When large electrical loads, like data centers, come offline quickly, bad things can happen to the power grid. As more such customers connect to the U.S. bulk power system (BPS) and load growth projections take off on a hockey-stick trajectory, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) wants grid operators to be prepared.
It’s like mama always said: Mo’ data centers, mo’ problems.
NERC is taking significant steps to ensure the reliability of the BPS, including issuing a Level 3 Essential Action Alert on May 4 that sets imminent acknowledgment and reporting deadlines. The alert, Computational Load Modeling, Studies, Instrumentation, Commissioning, Operations, Protection, and Control, outlines seven actions registered entities should implement to address “immediate risks posed by computational loads interfacing with the BPS.”
The Level 3 Alert was sent out in response to NERC’s observation that “customer-initiated large load reductions and significant oscillations that occur in seconds, leaving little or no room for real-time responses, threatening BPS reliability.” When large loads come off the electrical system, frequency rises due to the imbalance between load and generation, and voltage increases rapidly because less power is flowing through it. Without timely intervention, blackouts (or worse) could occur.
The deadline for registered entities to submit their responses is August 3, 2026. Although it is non-binding, NERC strongly urges all relevant entities, from transmission operators to equipment makers, to adopt the recommended risk mitigation strategies outlined.
An Unwelcome Trend?
NERC has previously documented instances of data centers and crypto-mining facilities coming offline and disrupting the grid, including a July 2024 incident in which a lightning arrestor failed on a 230 kV transmission line, leading to a customer-initiated simultaneous loss of approximately 1,500 MW of voltage-sensitive load that operators did not anticipate. Six successive system faults within 82 seconds pushed a bunch of data centers in Northern Virginia off the grid and onto backup generation, requiring PJM Interconnection and local utilities to step in and save the day. In that particular situation, thankfully, the frequency did not rise to a level high enough to cause concern, nor did the voltage rise to levels that posed a reliability risk. However, operators did have to take action to reduce the voltage to within normal operating levels.
NERC has also noted multiple “customer-initiated large load reductions” in the Texas and Eastern Interconnection grids; data centers and cryptocurrency miners unexpectedly became disconnected during minor voltage dips. Multiple loads tripping at once initiates a ripple effect that the grid was not historically designed to handle.
NERC’s Seven Recommended Steps
The Level 3 Alert was initially distributed to transmission planners (TPs), planning coordinators (PCs), transmission owners (TOs), balancing authorities (BAs), reliability coordinators (RCs), and transmission operators (TOPs). It contains seven Essential Actions, summarized by NERC as follows:
- TPs and PCs should develop a detailed list of modeling data, settings, and parameters required for computational loads and distribute it to TOs within their footprint.
- TPs and PCs should study the stability margin in their area at least annually for areas with computational loads.
- PCs should revise their definition of “qualified change” that triggers a review of local area protection, stability limits, and other reliability studies to account for computational load.
- TOs should establish a commissioning process for computational loads.
- TPs and PCs should study and implement System-side corrective actions with TOs to ensure no loss of firm load for computational load from normally cleared faults.
- TOs should install and utilize dynamic fault-recording devices to capture and share computational load facility electrical performance during system disturbances.
- TOPs, RCs, and BAs should establish Interpersonal Communication capabilities with computational loads to improve their situational awareness.
Other SafeGuards Against Large Loads
In another move to address emerging large loads, NERC has released voluntary guidelines to safeguard grid reliability.
In Reliability Guideline: Risk Mitigation for Emerging Large Loads, NERC recommends actions for traditional utilities, grid operators, and the companies behind large loads, including equipment manufacturers. Its aim is to ensure that as more industrial-scale consumers connect to the grid, they actively participate in practices that protect grid stability.
The highlighted steps show that proactive planning and participation can enable even more of these facilities to come online reliably and quickly. The guideline also acts as a reliability bridge while NERC updates its formal Reliability Standards to address these new challenges.
Data center construction and the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) are driving unprecedented electric load growth across the United States. Massive hyperscalers with deep pockets and bold aspirations need power, and they need it fast.
From May 12-14, 2026, DTECH Data Centers & AI will assemble utilities, engineers, and technical decision-makers from across this emerging ecosphere in Scottsdale, Arizona, to discuss everything from capacity constraints to streamlining studies, from modernizing infrastructure to integrating onsite generation into both utility and customer-side systems.
