The US Department of Energy released a draft study warning that data center expansion, domestic manufacturing growth, and large-scale electrification are pushing the national grid to its limits. The huge demand for electricity brought about by artificial intelligence and industrial development is intertwined with extreme weather due to climate change, testing the carrying capacity of the US power grid. Department of Energy officials said that demand for electricity in the US is growing at the fastest rate in decades. PJM, the largest power grid operator in the US, also said that demand for data centers is driving up power supply costs. Meanwhile, demand for electricity in Texas is approaching historic highs, and parts of the Midwest have issued emergency grid warnings. On July 1, the Trump administration issued an emergency order to the nation's largest power grid to deal with the upcoming heat wave. Southwest Power Pool, a power grid operator in 14 midwestern states in the US, issued an emergency grid alert for the western region on Monday evening. No alternating power outages have been ordered so far. The affected western region covers most of Colorado and Wyoming, as well as parts of Montana, Nebraska, Utah, and Arizona. Eastern Texas has experienced a strong heatwave, and electricity demand is approaching an all-time peak. According to preliminary estimates from the Texas Electricity Reliability Commission, electricity demand around Monday evening was close to the record set in August 2023. Millions of Texas residents are under high temperature warnings, with temperatures above 38 degrees Celsius. According to the latest auction results of PJM Interconnection LLC, the largest power grid operator in the US, demand for electricity in data centers has increased power supply costs by more than 60%. The auction failed to meet the reliability supply target for the third time in a row. The gap reached 6.8 gigawatts, which is equivalent to the power generation of nearly seven traditional nuclear reactors.

The US Department of Energy released a draft study warning that data center expansion, domestic manufacturing growth, and large-scale electrification are pushing the national grid to its limits. The huge demand for electricity brought about by artificial intelligence and industrial development is intertwined with extreme weather due to climate change, testing the carrying capacity of the US power grid. Department of Energy officials said that demand for electricity in the US is growing at the fastest rate in decades. PJM, the largest power grid operator in the US, also said that demand for data centers is driving up power supply costs. Meanwhile, demand for electricity in Texas is approaching historic highs, and parts of the Midwest have issued emergency grid warnings. On July 1, the Trump administration issued an emergency order to the nation's largest power grid to deal with the upcoming heat wave. Southwest Power Pool, a power grid operator in 14 midwestern states in the US, issued an emergency grid alert for the western region on Monday evening. No alternating power outages have been ordered so far. The affected western region covers most of Colorado and Wyoming, as well as parts of Montana, Nebraska, Utah, and Arizona. Eastern Texas has experienced a strong heatwave, and electricity demand is approaching an all-time peak. According to preliminary estimates from the Texas Electricity Reliability Commission, electricity demand around Monday evening was close to the record set in August 2023. Millions of Texas residents are under high temperature warnings, with temperatures above 38 degrees Celsius. According to the latest auction results of PJM Interconnection LLC, the largest power grid operator in the US, demand for electricity in data centers has increased power supply costs by more than 60%. The auction failed to meet the reliability supply target for the third time in a row. The gap reached 6.8 gigawatts, which is equivalent to the power generation of nearly seven traditional nuclear reactors.