The East Coast Of USA Soon Get Rolling Blackouts Because Of A.I. Data Centers

[RAMROD 117,040]

The East Coast of the United States could soon experience rolling blackouts as AI data centers gobble up more and more electricity, pushing the grid to the limit, according to a new report.

PJM, the organization that services nearly 70 million people in a 13-state corridor stretching from Kentucky to New Jersey, may be forced to trigger power outages during high demand periods, such as summer heat waves or winter freezes, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Mark Christie, a former head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said he used to believe the threat of blackouts was distant. “Now I’m saying that the reliability risk is across the street,” he said.

The AI boom has seen data centers cropping up across the U.S. but they are heavily concentrated in Northern Virginia, increasing demand for power and leading to soaring energy bills. “It’s killing my pockets,” a Maryland resident told Bloomberg in September. Another added: “You wonder, ‘what is your breaking point?’”

PJM has projected that power demand will increase by an average of 4.8 percent annually for the next 10 years — an unprecedented pace of growth. And ICF, a consulting firm, forecasts that demand in 2030 will surge 25 percent above 2023 levels, largely as a result of data centers.

PJM board Chairman David acknowledged the existence of “reliability challenges” but said “they are not unsolvable.”

Warning signs are already flashing red. This summer, heat waves surged demand for power on the PJM grid to “near-record highs” as consumers tried to cool their homes, according to the Journal. PJM responded by requesting that all power plants operate at full capacity. PJM also paid multiple large energy users, including factories, to cease operations.

While historically rare, rolling blackouts can be deadly. Over 200 people died in Texas in the winter of 2021 after the grid operator in the state ordered utilities to institute rolling blackouts to prevent complete grid failure amid freezing temperatures. Some Texans were without power for days.

A few months ago, PJM came up with proposals intended to balance the needs of both consumers and data centers. One plan said they would slash power to data centers during periods of strain.

Tech companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google opposed the plan, claiming it unfairly singled out data centers. They responded by offering their own proposals, which would make going offline voluntary.

Joseph Bowring, the head of Monitoring Analytics, has asked the federal government to step in, filing a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which states that PJM should be prohibited from servicing new data centers unless it has adequate capacity.

Unless action is taken, “PJM will be in the position of allocating blackouts rather than ensuring reliability,” he wrote in November.

[Morphine Prince 109,655]

I keep saying this a lot recently but…. we live in Hell.

[Purrrrrr 18,099]

there's a "could" missing in the title  

[AsleepOnTheCeiling 6,965]

It's corruption plain and simple. There's absolutely no reason to let citizens freeze because of a data center. 

 

The saddest part of all of this is that these data centers dont even pay their fair share. For example, the Colossus Data Center in Memphis TN is the largest AI data center in the world. xAI pays $0.06522/kWh for it's electricity. Meanwhile residential customers pay $0.10095/kWh. And Colossus apparently takes up 150MW. That's 150,000kwh. $9,783/month in electricity used and paid, but residential customers would pay $15,142/month. And that would be assuming that xAI has no special terms or rebates (which it likely does) on top of tax incentives and the ability to write off the cost in the first place. 

 

For anything to ever change, we need to take money out of politics. 

[Guest]

Yay, I hope we all die!

[Emvee 8,829]

25 minutes ago, elsamars said:

Yay, I hope we all die!

Honestly, I don’t even feel this unironically. I don’t give a damn if we survive. We’re a piece **** species that leans towards worshipping demons who parade around as saints. 

[nATAH 56,978]

where are those people who told me ai isn't bad for the environment and is no worse than owning a smartphone?

[Ceres 3,342]

Unrelated kinda but I had an internship at PJM many moons ago and I was a dumb 20 something and while working remote, I illegally downloaded Britney Jean.
 

And the next week I get called in by HR and my manager and I was so embarrassed bc they were like “hey, did you download Britney spears Britney jean.rar  on your work computer?” And all I could say was “it wasn’t even a good album” and my manager gave me such a disappointing mom look that’s still burned into my memory lol 

[SevenWonder 4,744]

AI is truly the worst. It ruins everything it touches. 

It's the Trump of technology. 

[zevthepaparazzo 2,427]

Who the fuсk is even using ai in the big 2026 

[dynamite 66,618]

5 minutes ago, zevthepaparazzo said:

Who the fuсk is even using ai in the big 2026 

@River 

[Lucas 31,122]

5 hours ago, nATAH said:

where are those people who told me ai isn't bad for the environment and is no worse than owning a smartphone?

not on this forum hopefully 

[Bronco 25,108]

4 minutes ago, Lucas said:

not on this forum hopefully 

Oh there's plenty of mouthbreathers like that on here

[nATAH 56,978]

51 minutes ago, Lucas said:

not on this forum hopefully 

oh they are! and I know who they are!

[Bronco 25,108]

3 minutes ago, nATAH said:

oh they are! and I know who they are!

@ them 

We want drama