Pull to refresh
Logo
Daily Brief
Following
Why Ranks Sign Up
El Paso Electric Company

El Paso Electric Company

Electric Utility

Appears in 1 story

Stories

AI data centers are rebuilding – and stress-testing – the U.S. power grid

Built World

Seeking regulatory approval for $473M gas plant to power Meta data center

Since late 2022, U.S. regulators and utilities have warned that AI-optimized data centers could reshape national power demand, ending an era of flat electricity consumption and forcing rapid buildout of generation and transmission. By early 2026, those warnings have crystallized into concrete challenges. PJM Interconnection's December 2025 capacity auction hit the $333.44/MW-day price cap and failed to meet reliability requirements for the first time in its history. Data centers accounted for $6.5 billion—or 40%—of the auction's $16.4 billion in costs.

Updated 6 days ago