Energy Secretary Chris Wright directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday to launch a rulemaking aimed at slashing the time it takes for data centers and U.S. manufacturers to connect to the power grid.
Wright’s proposal also addresses “co-location” — the effort to develop data centers and power generation together. FERC has struggled to get a handle on electric reliability and cost issues that come with the huge amounts of power that could come onto the grid or be pulled off the grid as a result of co-locating facilities.
“To usher in a new era of American prosperity, we must ensure all Americans and domestic industries have access to affordable, reliable, and secure electricity,” Wright wrote in a letter to the commission. “To do this, large loads, including AI data centers, served by public utilities must be able to connect to the transmission system in a timely, orderly, and non-discriminatory manner.”
Since February, FERC has been grappling with the details of a potential rule as America’s technology giants race to build energy-hungry data centers for artificial intelligence. Chair David Rosner in September commented only briefly on the commission’s progress and closed-door deliberations, telling reporters that it has elicited different opinions. The commission, he said, is still working on it.
