All articles tagged with #electricity grid
Regulators and grid operator PJM are assessing how surging data-center electricity demand should be met, including options for direct connections to power plants or on-site generation, in a debate that could reshape grid investment, electricity prices, and AI development as FERC prepares a key ruling in the coming months.
Gov. Greg Abbott unveiled sweeping 2027 legislative recommendations to regulate Texas data centers, including requiring new facilities to add power generation, paying for grid interconnection and infrastructure, mandating closed-loop water systems, annual reporting on electricity and water use, and repealing sales tax exemptions, while directing regulators to minimize residential costs on the ERCOT grid; the plan aims to curb infrastructure costs from rapid data-center growth amid energy and water-resource concerns, facing local opposition even as the industry says it already follows many best practices.
An unprecedented blackout in April 2025 cut power across Spain and Portugal, with some areas offline for up to 16 hours. Entso-e’s final report says there was no single cause; a mix of interacting factors on the Spanish grid—voltage controls not aligned with the grid operator, manual voltage management slowing responses, Spain’s wider voltage range, and inadequate reactive power assets—triggered a sudden voltage rise and cascading generation. Portugal was affected due to its close interconnection. The report stops short of blame but recommends better coordination among transmission and distribution operators and other energy-system players to prevent a recurrence.
Iran launched multiple missile barrages across Israel, damaging the Bazan oil refinery in Haifa from falling shrapnel; there were no reported injuries at the refinery and no hazardous leaks, while the north’s electricity outages were localized and being restored. Emergency services treated several wounded in other strikes, including a residential building hit in Kiryat Shmona; earlier missiles had left four people dead and more than a dozen wounded in various locations.
The Dominican Republic experienced a nationwide blackout caused by a failure in the electricity transmission system, linked to issues at a substation and shutdowns at major power plants, leading to chaos and evacuations in the capital, Santo Domingo, amid ongoing smaller outages and recent hurricane impacts.
California lawmakers have approved a comprehensive energy package that includes funding for labor and wildfire prevention, the expansion of a Western electricity grid, and a significant replenishment of the wildfire fund, with some concerns from Central Valley representatives about agricultural funding cuts.
Several cities in northern China broke heat records for June this week, with temperatures straining the country's electricity supplies and leading authorities to hold mock emergency drills. The persistent heat has already put the country's power grid operators on high alert, with some cities in the south warning firms and people to curb usage. China's National Energy Administration staged a power emergency drill on the state grid's East China network, simulating a power surge and outage to prepare early warning and power management mechanisms.