US Calls on Data Centers to Prepare Backup Power Ahead of Storm

The US government asked the nation’s grid operators to make backup power available from facilities including data centers as a record-breaking winter storm threatens blackouts across the country.

There’s 35 gigawatts of unused capacity across the country and the government is “taking action to ensure that if the nation needs it, the generation will be made available,” Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said in a statement on Thursday. One gigawatt is equivalent to a traditional nuclear reactor.

Some data centers and factories rely on dedicated power facilities, but those plants generally do not provide electricity back to the grid. The ...