The 2024 Reliability Performance and Regional Risk Assessment by Texas Reliability Entity (RE) highlights improved grid performance but warns of growing risks. Rapid load growth from data centers, crypto-mining, and industrial demand is straining infrastructure. The increased reliance on inverter-based resources, such as solar and batteries, adds complexity, while ERCOT faces potential capacity shortfalls by 2026. Texas RE also flags artificial intelligence as a new reliability risk. Bloomberg reports that CoreWeave Inc. is expanding a data center, which is expected to double the electricity demand of a city near Dallas, another example of the strain AI workloads are placing on the US power grid. The report recommends improved planning, increased dispatchable resources, stronger controls for renewables, and enhanced safeguards against cyber, physical, and operational threats. Bloomberg writes:
CoreWeave Inc. is expanding a data center that is projected to double the electricity needs of a city near Dallas, another example of the strains that artificial intelligence workloads are placing on the US power supply. […]
Data centers are consuming enormous amounts of electricity, placing new demands on the US power grid and raising concerns about how the facilities affect reliability. Data centers are theย biggestย source of new power consumption in Texas by far and aย new law there requires them to use backup generators or curtail their use during emergencies. […]
โThe sheer amount of new demand represents a significant challenge that will require a comprehensive and proactive response to ensure electricity continues reliably flowing to Texans,โ the Texas Reliability Entity, a nonprofit that assesses power reliability, said in a Juneย report.
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