“No Spare Capacity”: Watchdog Warns Largest US Grid Is Maxed Out Amid Data Center Buildout

America’s largest power grid has issued multiple ‘Maximum Generation‘ and ‘Load Management‘ alerts this summer, as summer heat pushes power demand to the brink with air conditioners running at full blast across the eastern half of the U.S. The deeper issue: there’s not enough baseload capacity to support the explosive growth of power-hungry AI server racks at new data centers. 

“There is simply no new capacity to meet new loads,” said Joe Bowring, president of Monitoring Analytics, which is the independent watchdog for PJM Interconnection, who Bloomberg quoted. “The solution is to make sure that people who want to build data centers are serious enough about it to bring their own generation.”

New AI data centers are popping up across the PJM Interconnection—the largest U.S. power grid, serving 65 million people across 13 states and Washington, D.C. Part of PJM’s territory includes Loudoun County, Virginia—known as ‘Data Center Alley‘—which is recognized as one of the world’s largest hubs for data centers.

The problem is that next-generation server racks at AI data centers are now consuming more than twice the power they did just a few years ago. For example, Nvidia’s GB200 AI rack draws 120 kW, compared to 60–80 kW for the earlier HGX models. Multiply that by thousands of racks in large, hyperscale centers, and it’s clear that AI computing is rapidly gobbling up grid capacity while baseload power in the form of fossil fuel power generation has been retired. 

On Sunday, we cited the EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook for July, which showed that average summer wholesale power prices across the PJM, NYISO, and ISO-NE grids are the highest in the nation. These prices now far exceed those in Texas’ ERCOT, the U.S. average, and even the traditionally high-cost West Coast markets. The blame is squarely focused on the Democrats’ initiative to recklessly decarbonize power grids.

Bowring is entirely right about grid limitations in the era of data center buildouts. Take, for example, just how fragile the grid is across the Mid-Atlantic area:

In Maryland:

• “Another Reason To Leave”: Top Maryland Power Official Warns Of Regular Rolling Blackouts 

We’ve warned over the last year about the power crisis unfolding across the Mid-Atlantic:

• Goldman Says Mid-Atlantic Power Prices “Finally Caught Up To AI Data Center Load Growth Story”

•  Maryland “Can’t Import Itself Out Of Energy Crisis” Amid Urgent Need To Boost In-State Power Generation

Last month, Pennsylvania boasted about saving Maryland’s power grid from near collapse:

• “You’re Welcome”: Pennsylvania Boasts About Saving ‘Green’ Maryland From Near Power Grid Collapse

The result of failed green policies and surging power demand has created a perfect storm that could constrain AI data center buildouts across the region.