The company running the largest electrical network in the United States has a new plan to keep the lights on for everyone else. PJM Interconnection serves 67 million customers from Virginia to Illinois. And its grid is getting squeezed.
Data centers are behind the crunch. They have been popping up at breakneck pace. That kind of demand would strain any system, and this one is already struggling.
The grid operator held an auction earlier this year to add new generating capacity. It fell short.
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According to PJM's market watchdog, data centers are responsible for most of the price hike. So PJM decided to act: starting June 2027, it will temporarily cut power to data centers using 50 megawatts or more during shortages to prevent a wider blackout.
When the grid gets strained, PJM will order those facilities to drop offline. Like other demand response initiatives, PJM will pay data centers that are disconnected. Those programs usually notify participants between half an hour and several days ahead, based on anticipated grid strain.
This policy is expected to encourage both new and current data centers to develop independent power generation. Facilities that fail to do so will likely depend on backup units, which are often more expensive and dirtier to operate. Diesel generators are popular among data centers because diesel is easy to source and store locally. Under federal rules, these generators can run for no more than 50 hours per year in demand-response programs and up to 100 hours for emergencies or maintenance work.
Recently, Vantage Data Centers faced criticism for allegedly working with Virginia's environmental officials to undermine a study claiming that diesel backup generators might cause tens of millions of dollars in health-related costs annually for residents close to a 96-megawatt data center in Northern Virginia.
The grid operator has faced backlash lately over its handling of new power generation and major consumers like data centers. PJM is currently conducting a fresh auction to secure additional generation capacity.
The PJM decision reflects a growing tension between the nation's digital infrastructure and its aging electrical backbone. Data centers already consume roughly 2% of all U.S. electricity, and their share is climbing rapidly as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and streaming services expand. Critics argue that handing demand-response payments to data centers effectively rewards them for contributing to the very strain they cause. Proponents counter that the program treats data centers like any other large industrial customer and creates a market-based incentive for on-site generation or efficiency improvements.
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