Secretary Wright Authorizes Industrial Generators to Stabilize U.S. Grid

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright authorized power grid operators and utilities to require data centers and large businesses to activate backup generators in late January 2026. The measure followed Winter Storm Fern, which caused power outages for over one million people, primarily in the Southeast. Wright granted PJM Interconnection, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, and Duke Energy the authority to utilize industrial diesel generators, stating these could generate 35 gigawatts of power to stabilize the grid.

The emergency action followed a request from PJM Interconnection for federal permission to increase power generation, despite the resulting increase in air pollution from dirty fuels. The situation highlighted the increasing strain that AI-driven data centers place on the electrical grid, contributing to higher household energy costs.

Concurrent with these grid stability efforts, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and the Trump administration pressured PJM Interconnection to fast-track electrical connections for expanding AI data centers. During a February 3 budget address, Shapiro criticized PJM for a lack of transparency and failure to procure sufficient supply in a December auction. This followed a December 2025 order from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission declaring PJM's tariffs regarding the co-location of data centers and power plants as unjust and unreasonable. FERC has since directed PJM to establish new transmission services to manage hyperscale data center demand, which is projected to exceed 30 gigawatts of peak capacity by 2030.