US Energy Dept Mobilizes Data Centers Against Storm Outages

The U.S. Energy Department has issued an order directing grid operators to leverage backup electricity from facilities such as data centers. This directive is a critical measure to prevent potential power outages anticipated due to an upcoming winter storm.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated that electricity providers should access backup power from manufacturing, retail, and data center facilities if their regional demand approaches blackout levels. This initiative is part of a broader, months-long effort to ensure electricity reliability and affordability, with potential application during peak summer demand periods as well.

This is an unusual step as data centers and businesses typically do not distribute energy to the national grid. The department is exploring ways to enable data centers to generate their own power, potentially lowering overall electricity costs.

The Energy Department has also directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to draft new rules for oversight of how large data centers connect to the power grid, a process usually managed at the state level.

Many data centers and manufacturing plants maintain industrial diesel generators for their own backup power needs. The administration's strategy is to tap into this existing capacity during periods of high electricity demand. This could involve an estimated 35 gigawatts of power, sufficient for millions of homes.

Concerns about carbon emissions from heavy diesel generator use and potential conflicts with Environmental Protection Agency rules have been raised, though officials have previously downplayed such environmental considerations in favor of addressing energy shortages.