Largest US power grid PJM escalates emergency actions to avoid blackouts

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Reuters

July 3, 2026 2:46 PM EDT Updated 36 mins ago


July 3 (Reuters) - Largest ​U.S. power grid operator PJM said ‌on Friday it was under a federal alert to cut electricity consumption across its ​territory as it battled generator outages, ​massive overloading on its transmission lines ⁠and a surge in air conditioning ​use from prolonged sweltering heat.

PJM said it ​told utilities to reduce electricity to customers who are under contract to reduce consumption during ​emergencies.

PJM serves 67 million people ​in the Mid-Atlantic, South and Washington, D.C., area.

Spot ‌wholesale ⁠electricity prices in northern Virginia, home to the largest collection of data centers in the world, have surged beyond $2,000 ​per megawatt ​hour this ⁠week. That compares to about $40 per MWh when PJM ​is not in distress.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/largest-us-power-grid-pjm-says-it-is-no-longer-able-provide-expected-energy-2026-07-03/

[Blues Heron]

1. I was contemplating the sheer number of lights on at closed businesses last night, its insane they are allowed to waste

Its a serious disease in this country. Everything is lit - every shelf in the store, every sign above businesses that are closed, lights everywhere. Entire buildings lit up with decorative lights. Offices lit all night for no reason. Its psychotic. Meanwhile the grid is being overwhelmed.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. The one thing that helps compared to the past

Last edited Fri Jul 3, 2026, 08:48 PM - Edit history (1)

is that most of that lighting is LED, which uses much LESS energy and provides more bang for the buck.

[Blues Heron]

7. True but that led to things being lit that never were before like individual shelves in grocery stores.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. The grocery stores that I go to haven't put lighting on shelves

except maybe in the refrigerator cases!

[Blues Heron]

14. thats how it starts - in the cooler, unwelcome lights glaring right into the beer, turning it skunky

Some kind of lighting fever took over sometime in the 2000s probably to match the electric online vibe, everything aglow

[BumRushDaShow]

15. People complained that it was too dark to read the shelf price tags...

So...

[Blues Heron]

16. even the price tags are electric theses days! lol!

[Progressive dog]

21. The Hannaford market near me

has no lights on shelves and the frozen section freezer lights only turn on when a person is next to that segment of freezer space.
The smaller market that is closer to me leaves the freezer lights on but don't have more lights than they did decades ago. Lights are not the problem with electric use, blackouts and brownouts happen during the day when electricity use is the highest.

[Blues Heron]

22. good old yankee frugality! Glad to hear that. The extreme lighting is a problem. even if its not the largest segment

watt hours are watt hours, every single one counts at this point, all down the line. Thats why social fads like extreme lighting are so bad - everybody has to prove themselves and it becomes a major load on the sytem. Its also the sheer arrogance of lighting each bottle of wine.

[karynnj]

30. Our Hannaford is similar.

I wonder if that makes it easier to keep it cold enough.

[EndlessMaze]

19. I assume you meant "much less"

[BumRushDaShow]

24. Yes! Fixed. lol

[Marthe48]

18. Shut off everything I'm not using

With the sunshine outside, I can see well enough.

Keeping my fingers crossed that the power will hold up. It's horrible we are competing with data centers for resources.

[walkingman]

2. We have a serious energy issue in the US and it will only get worse with

the influx of data centers and escalating Climate Change because of our reluctance to embrace sustainable power by our gooberment.

Instead of all these trillions we waste on meaningless wars, how about we invest in improving our grid, cleaning our air and water, and embrace 21st century solutions to our problems.

[pat_k]

3. From Capacity to Chaos: How AI Data Centers Challenge the Grid

Data centers are an f-ing nightmare

To protect the American people from the countless harms, a national moratorium until the problems can be addressed should be a priority for electeds and candidates.

https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/uptime/from-capacity-to-chaos-how-ai-data-centers-challenge-the-grid

AI data centers are challenging a core assumption about the grid: that large loads operate predictably. The issue is not only how much electricity these facilities require, but also how they behave during disturbances.

This risk became reality in 2024, when dozens of data centers in Northern Virginia dropped off the grid in a single event, instantly removing roughly 1,500 MW of load, according to Reuters.

In this instance, grid operators moved quickly to stabilize the system and avoid broader outages. However, regulators have warned that the grid is not designed to withstand the sudden loss of such large blocks of demand.

The US is experiencing its fastest sustained growth in electricity demand in decades, with the Energy Information Administration projecting annual increases of roughly 2% through 2027, largely driven by data centers.

In regions like PJM, load forecasts show a sharp rise in peak demand with data centers accounting for a significant share of new load, while the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has reported rapid growth in large-load interconnection requests tied to data center development.

Together, those trends point to a system under new strain – not just from the amount of power required, but also from how quickly large loads can change.

From Steady Load to Sudden Swings
...

[Wicked Blue]

9. I don't understand why data centers aren't required to have solar panels

over every inch of their roofs and parking areas. These would provide power for the servers and electricity for cooling systems.

Any excess power they generate could be channeled back to the utility grid during peak cooling times.

[NickB79]

12. Data centers can consume as much energy as a small city

Covering their parking lots and roofs with solar panels would offset a few MINUTES of their daily consumption. They're truly energy hogs of the highest order.

[pat_k]

13. Would require a lot of acreage, but some combination of wind and solar with battery storage could perhaps work.

The amount of power required is utterly mind-boggling -- 50 to 100 megawatts and more -- which is what the essential problem is.

It would take over 1000 acres of panels. The roof wouldn't offer much space because they need to be covered with cooling equipment.

There are discussions of combined wind / solar / battery storage:
https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatacenter/tip/How-to-use-data-center-wind-turbines-for-sustainable-energy

The thing is, it is insane for this nation to be pushing forward with these monsters until approaches that don't cause the incredible harms are designed and regulated. Really and truly insane given that it is all for a technology that is costing billions for failure after failure to provide ROI. Talk about an f-ing money pit. Absolute lunacy.

July 2025
MIT Study finds that 95% of AI initiatives at companies fail to turn a profit
https://mlq.ai/media/quarterly_decks/v0.1_State_of_AI_in_Business_2025_Report.pdf

May 2026
81% of Enterprise Technology Leaders Report Production Failures from AI-Generated Code, New Research Shows
https://www.cloudbees.com/newsroom/enterprise-technology-leaders-report-production-failures-from-ai-generated-code

[Karasu]

4. Not sustainable. Especially thanks to data centers.

[Journeyman]

6. And Republicans mocked Mamdani for encouraging energy conservation . . .

Mamdani mocked by GOP for telling New Yorkers to set thermostats to 78

[SamuelAdams]

8. Meanwhile, Trump is paying businesses to not build renewable energy projects.

[pat_k]

17. Well, if his criminal war on Iran did anything, the obscene gas prices gave a boost to electric cars.

Not exactly worth the war crimes, American lives lost, killing and destroying the lives of the Iranians he claimed to want to "free," and hundreds of billions of dollars, but...

[Buddyzbuddy]

10. This situation is only going to get worse, not better.

Maybe they should use AI to solve this problem before building more centers.
I imagine the first part of the solution would be to eliminate Republicans that are blocking renewable sustainable energy.

[turbinetree]

20. Tomorrow the weather is going to be hotter...........in this region.........and its not even August..........

drink lots of water and stay hydrated...........

[Aussie105]

23. Are the responsible people in government watching this?

You know, the career public servants, who watch the nitty-gritty details of your daily lives, making life bearable, like keeping the lights on, keeping water and sewage at your place flowing, etc?

What do they think of data centres?

If those go unrestricted, we are heading for a dystopian future.

Sitting in your cold living room in winter, with only a candle for light, while the data center next door is humming and bathed in lights everywhere.
And in summer? No AC, just cold showers every 30 minutes and sitting in front of a fan.

Welcome to the future!
You may not like it.

[BidenRocks]

25. Propaganda outlet says to set it to 62!

They are the problem!

[LearnedHand]

26. Fuck the humans but keep those data centers at five 9s*?

(*a metric for uptime) Yup the Republicans have really nailed the values thing.

[Jack Valentino]

27. TRUMP trying to make July 4, 2026----- "the HOTTEST EVER!!!!"

while he orders his minions to search for dead bodies
to DRAG into his LOSER 'national fair'....

[PJMcK]

28. Just to be clear!

Although those are my initials I have no involvement with PJM.

(wink)

[littlemissmartypants]

29. Map

?w=792&h=592&as=1

[bluedigger]

31. Is that coal blue for coal country?