grid reliability

Article · related

Google Turns PJM Nuclear Uprates Into a 3.6-Gigawatt AI-Grid Power Rail

Google and Constellation announced a long-term PJM power package on October 6, 2026, centered on 890 MW of new nuclear capacity from uprates at existing reactors and 2,700 MW of additional supply. The structure matters because it links AI data-center growth to new firm capacity, demand flexibility, and AI-assisted grid operations rather than treating clean power as a certificate-only procurement exercise.

Published Oct 7, 2026 Article · related

Texas Turns Data-Center Permits Into a Grid-Audit Gate

On September 21, 2026, Governor Greg Abbott directed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to halt permits sought by data centers until ERCOT completes its audit. The order broadens Texas’s data-center slowdown from grid connections into environmental and water approvals, making AI infrastructure growth conditional on state findings about reliability, water use, local impacts, ownership, tax incentives, and who pays for supporting infrastructure.

Published Sep 22, 2026 Article · related

EPA Turns AI Power Demand Into a Fossil-Baseload Deregulation Test

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin signed a final partial repeal of the 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards for fossil-fuel power plants and paired it with a proposal to rescind remaining greenhouse-gas standards for the sector under Clean Air Act Section 111. EPA frames the action as an energy-abundance and cost-saving measure worth more than $300 billion, while major news reports say environmental groups expect legal challenges. The AI angle is not that EPA regulated AI directly, but that rising data-center and industrial load is becoming a justification for fossil-basaload deregulation.

Published Sep 15, 2026 Article · related

PJM Turns AI Data Centers Into Interruptible Grid Load

PJM’s proposed Interim Resource Adequacy Service framework would treat some new 50 MW-plus data centers and other large loads as curtailable unless they secure qualifying capacity. The move follows a 6,831 MW capacity shortfall for the 2028/2029 delivery year and rising forecasts for large-load demand across PJM’s footprint. The system read: AI compute is being recast from passive load growth into a reliability obligation.

Published Aug 19, 2026 Article · related

Texas Turns AI Data Centers Into a Grid-Admission Audit

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed PUCT and ERCOT on August 3, 2026 to conduct a comprehensive verification and audit of data centers advancing through ERCOT’s interconnection process before those projects move forward. The order lands amid roughly 474 gigawatts of large-load requests to connect to the Texas grid, with the governor’s office saying about 90% of new power requests are data centers. The move reframes AI-era data centers as strategic infrastructure applicants rather than ordinary load growth.

Published Aug 7, 2026 Article · related

AI Loads Fail the Texas Grid’s Ride-Through Test

Reuters reported on June 5, 2026 that several large data centers and crypto facilities seeking to connect to the Texas grid failed key voltage reliability tests. ERCOT’s May 21 assessment found eight planned large loads totaling about 3.9 GW, modeled within roughly 20 GW of large-load representation, and identified four trip groups that could exceed the 3,200 MW threshold while not meeting NOGRR282 voltage ride-through requirements. The signal is that AI-era power risk is no longer only about finding enough megawatts; it is also about whether those megawatts stay connected through ordinary grid faults.

Published Jun 7, 2026