The largest US power grid operator has proposed curtailing electricity supply to certain new large power users, including AI data centers, during grid emergencies beginning in June 2027, as surging demand threatens to outpace available generation capacity.
The proposal targets facilities that will fail to secure sufficient independent or contracted power supplies. PJM Interconnection will develop and maintain a Large Load Registry by detailed site, service areas, and whether they bring their own supply for better load management during capacity shortages.
“During capacity shortages, new Large Loads that do not bring their own generation by June 1, 2027, and have not otherwise secured supply, will be subject to curtailment prior to deployment of Pre-Emergency Load Management. This will create a regional framework for curtailment. In PJM’s suite of Emergency Procedures, Load Management resources are paid to reduce consumption during extreme grid conditions to relieve strain on the system,” and the pace of new generation and transmission, signalling that grid reliability is becoming as important as computing capacity,” said Pareekh Jain, CEO at EIIRTrend & Pareekh Consulting.
High risk for new builds
While PJM coordinates the wholesale electricity grid across 13 states, including Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, etc., and the District of Columbia, not every
Downstream threat to enterprise cloud workloads
The proposal highlights a new infrastructure risk that extends beyond data centers. If power constraints become common, organizations running workloads in cloud or colocation facilities could face indirect impacts ranging from higher operating costs to reduced capacity during emergencies.
“If a company rents computing power from a data center instead of owning one, their service could get shut off during a power emergency, and if a bunch of data centers are all in the same region, they could all get hit at the same time,” added Jain.
Therefore, Jain suggests companies should ask their providers whether their specific data center has backup power lined up. CIOs should also start spreading important work across multiple data centers in different regions, and figure out which of their computer tasks absolutely need nonstop power versus which ones can pause for a bit if needed.
A new reality for data centers
The proposal comes as data center developers across the US are already struggling to secure reliable electricity. The energy intelligence firm Currence has recently estimated that between 30% and 50% of the large-scale data center capacity expected to come online in 2026 will likely be delayed, with one of the primary reasons being mounting power constraints. Currence found that only about 5 GW of that capacity is currently under construction, leaving roughly 11 GW remains in the announced stage with no visible construction progress, despite typical build timelines of 12–18 months.
Given the current shortages, PJM Interconnection’s proposal is unlikely to remain an isolated case as other grid operators facing rapid AI-driven electricity demand could adopt similar policies requiring large data centers to secure their own power or accept curtailment. This will make power availability a key factor in future data center site selection and investment decisions, added Jain.
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