Uncle Sam's new power plan will plug AI farms into the grid faster
- Reference: 1761323212
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/10/24/doe_datacenter_grid_connection/
- Source link:
In a letter to FERC, which oversees electricity transmission, Secretary Chris Wright instructed it to implement various procedures, with one proposed rule to limit the time taken to review connection decisions to 60 days.
[1]Announcing the move , the Department of Energy (DOE) said that the US is experiencing an unprecedented surge in electricity demand, and that the nation's ability to remain at the forefront of technological innovation depends on an affordable, reliable, and secure supply of energy.
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That surge in electricity demand is due in part to a boom in datacenter construction, itself a result of the AI fad that has seen billions of dollars thrown at developing and training ever larger machine learning models on ever more power-hungry hardware.
[3]
[4]
A recent report by Deloitte Insights estimated that the power draw from all these American bit barns may be [5]more than 30 times greater by 2035 , if growth continues along the same path.
Meanwhile, the same report noted lengthy delays in getting new-build projects connected to the grid, whether they are datacenters or energy generation facilities. There is currently a seven-year wait on some requests for connection, Deloitte claimed.
[6]
Secretary Wright says he wants to cut through all that, and accelerate the connection process for large loads, including datacenters.
In the letter, he notes that FERC has not historically exerted jurisdiction over load connections, but he believes that the interconnection of large loads directly to the interstate transmission system should fall squarely within the commission's jurisdiction.
The proposed reforms would apply only to new loads greater than 20 MW and would make load facilities subject to standardized study deposits, readiness requirements, and withdrawal penalties, as generator sites are, to deter speculative projects and provide a clearer picture of actual demand.
[7]
When it comes to large loads, Secretary Wright proposes that applicants that agree to be curtailable should have their request expedited. Curtailable loads can be reduced or temporarily shut off to stabilize the grid.
"We seek comment on appropriate deadlines for such an expedited study process, including whether such studies can be completed in 60 days," he states in the letter.
[8]AI investment is the only thing keeping the US out of recession
[9]Grounded jet engines take off again as datacenter generators
[10]Hyperscalers try to beat the heat with larger racks, more air flow
[11]Decomposed dinosaurs make Texas a top destination for AI bit barns
Secretary Wright also directed FERC to remove unnecessary burdens for preliminary hydroelectric power permits, which appears to mean disregarding any objections to them being built.
"In recent orders, the commission denied a series of applications for preliminary permits on the basis that third parties responsible for the lands on which the projects were to be located opposed the preliminary permit," he said.
A new section is proposed to be added to the commission's regulations "to codify and clarify that opposition from third parties is not a basis to deny an application for a preliminary permit," his letter states.
The DOE has already been moving to address issues with energy generation and datacenter sites getting mired in permit delays.
In August, the department named ten companies it will work with to [12]test out advanced atomic reactor projects , with the aim of speeding new generators into service. In July, it picked out four federal government sites where private sector firms will be invited to [13]colocate datacenters and energy generation projects .
Last month, President Trump hosted many of Silicon Valley's top brass at a White House dinner where he [14]pledged to remove obstacles to connecting datacenters to the electricity grid and supplying them with enough power. ®
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[1] https://www.energy.gov/articles/secretary-wright-acts-unleash-american-industry-and-innovation-newly-proposed-rules
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aPv286nkjdKtgQOODnR2AAAAAUI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aPv286nkjdKtgQOODnR2AAAAAUI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aPv286nkjdKtgQOODnR2AAAAAUI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/26/us_datacenter_power_crunch/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aPv286nkjdKtgQOODnR2AAAAAUI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aPv286nkjdKtgQOODnR2AAAAAUI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/24/ai_investment_us_recession/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/22/datacenter_jet_engines/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/17/hyperscaler_datacenter_ocp/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/16/texas_ai_bitbarns/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/14/us_doe_names_firms_that/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/25/doe_ai_infra/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/05/trump_rewards_tech_industry_loyalty/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Texas republican legislators are actually actively working on making Texas one of, if not the largest AI/server farm centers in the US. Can't wait for another massive Texas winter storm to beat the old record (use very dark humor here that fits with the times to fill in the blank). Not to mention that we usually have very hot summers that regularly come close to and occasionally succeed in maxing out our power grid. Oh and dangerously powerful thunderstorms and tornadoes in the spring that regularly cripple large parts of the power grid for days. Supposedly they will just turn them off the massive compute farms in power emergencies. This seems to contradict the idea of 24/7/365 availability that customers of those services expect or in some cases require. It should be pointed out that there are vast tracts of... land in wind swept wide open semi-arrid west Texas available for alternative energy sources but according to our supreme governor these sources are too unreliable. We could just fire up the boilers on new preferably gas but let's not prematurely count out beautiful clean coal generating plants that will require at least 5 years to build. And help the Gulf of Mexico (FU Trump) to take back all the islands along the coast and some of the coast as well. See I told you, even stupid is bigger in Texas.
Slapstick
Kurt Vonnegut's 1976 'Slapstick, or Lonesome No More' now reads like a prophesy:
"The fuel shortage was so severe when I was elected, that the first stiff problem I faced after my inauguration was where to get enough electricity to power the computers which would issue the new middle names.
I ordered horses and soldiers and wagons of the ramshackle Army I had inherited from my predecessor to haul tons of papers from the National Archives to the powerhouse. These documents were all from the Administration of Richard M. Nixon, the only president who was ever forced to resign.
I myself went to the Archives to watch. I spoke to the soldiers and a few passers-by from the steps there. I said that Mr Nixon and his associates had been unbalanced by loneliness of an especially virulent sort.
'He promised to bring us together, but tore us apart instead,' I said. 'Now, hey presto!, he will bring us together after all.'
I posed for photographs beneath the inscription on the facade of the Archives, which said this:
'THE PAST IS PROLOGUE.'
'They were not basically criminals,' I said. 'But they yearned to partake of the brotherhood they saw in Organized Crime.'
'So many crimes committed by lonesome people in Government are concealed in this place,' I said, 'that the inscription might well read, "Better a Family of Criminals than No Family at All"."
(From chapter 34)
Read the book, don't watch the movie!
On currents of stolen light ..
Western society, in its death throes, hurled itself headfirst into the mad scramble for technological transcendence. Ravenous AI corporate god like machines, gnawed at the bones of the electric grid, demanding a monstrous two-thirds expansion of power capacity, a grotesque swelling of arteries to feed their insatiable hunger.
This wasn’t progress; it was a fever dream fueled by the singularity cult. A blinding, fanatical conviction that silicon would outthink flesh, that code would unmake soul, rewriting existence itself in cold, unyielding algorithms.
And in their zealot’s rush, these architects of doom choked the life from the living, drowning the simple needs of ordinary people beneath towers of electricity meant only for the worship of cold metal gods. The many were left in darkness, as the few soared on currents of stolen light.
AI Power
It will be nice when the bubble bursts and the non-AI inhabitants get electricity at bargain prices. Unless there are unintended consequences...