3 gigawatts briefly vanished from the grid last week. Data centers appear to be the reason why.
An electrical fault on a transmission line in Northern Virginia caused 3 gigawatts of demand to briefly disappear from the national power grid last week. Data centers in the region are believed to be the reason for this large drop, as they switched to backup power. This event created significant ripples across the Eastern U.S. power grid.
Last Wednesday morning, an electrical fault on a transmission line in Northern Virginia initiated an unusually extensive chain reaction across the nation's largest power grid. The incident resulted in a brief disappearance of 3 gigawatts of electricity demand, an event attributed to data centers in the region switching over to their backup power systems. This sudden change in demand sent measurable ripples throughout the entire Eastern U.S. power grid.