AI Boom Shows Top US Grid ‘Too Big to Function,’ Regulator Says

The chairman of the top US energy regulator has put America’s biggest power grid on notice, warning that its operator may be too big to function adequately amid the AI data center boom.

Laura Swett, who oversees the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said Tuesday she fears that PJM Interconnection LLC’s struggle to address the voracious power needs from data centers threatens the country’s artificial intelligence ambitions.

PJM “perhaps simply has grown too big to function,” she said. “We simply cannot have a market that falls short at exactly the time when we must successfully navigate this once-in-a-generation ...