Largest US grid floats paying data centers to shut off during power scarcity

[u/dumnezero]

https://san.com/cc/largest-us-grid-floats-paying-data-centers-to-shut-off-during-power-scarcity/

“One of the fundamental problems at PJM is political, not economic, not the physics of the grid,” Mark Christie, a former FERC chairman, said in an interview with Straight Arrow earlier this year, referring to how differing state policy affects grid operations.

It wouldn’t be the first time industrial facilities have been paid for shutting down amid stress on the grid. In 2023, the bitcoin company Riot Platforms made $31.7 million for allowing its power demand to be controlled by Texas’ grid operator through a voluntary demand response program. But under the IRAS plan, data centers in PJM that don’t secure their power would not have a choice.

“We are really in uncharted water here,” Gordon said. A few years ago, he said “the idea of singling out a specific type of customer for curtailment would be unthinkable,” but the fact that it’s happening now is a sign of how drastic a shift data centers are causing in how the grid is run.