The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) has issued a Level 3 Alert calling for immediate attention from NERC registered entities regarding the reliability risks associated with large computational loads, including data centers, artificial intelligence training facilities, cryptocurrency mining operations, and similar facilities.
This is another meaningful step in NERC’s effort to address the grid impacts of rapidly growing data center load.
NERC and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have been increasing their focus on whether existing planning, modeling, interconnection, and operational practices are sufficient to account for the size and operating characteristics of large computational loads considering—unlike many very large loads—these facilities may be capable of rapidly reducing load, transferring to backup resources, reconnecting to the grid, or otherwise changing operating modes in ways that can affect voltage stability, frequency response, protection coordination, contingency analysis, and operator situational awareness.
While the Alert does not itself impose new mandatory obligations on registered entities, it does provide seven “essential actions” for entities:
- The development of modeling data, settings, and parameters needed from computational loads that should be part of facility interconnection requirements, including information regarding on-site generation.
- Studying particular facets of computational load additions, including instability vulnerabilities and the impacts of contingency events.
- Greater specificity on changes in computational loads that will require a review of system protection and stability limits.
- The development of a process for commissioning computational loads.
- The development of corrective actions to ensure that loss of computational load does not result in nonconsequential load loss.
- An expectation that dynamic fault recording devices will be used to capture computational load facility electrical performance during system disturbances.
- An expectation that communication capabilities will be established with computational loads to improve situational awareness and improved joint operations, including arrangements for directives to computational loads to prevent system emergencies.
Data centers are not directly required to respond, however, developers and operators should pay close attention to the practical effects of the Alert and be aware that their interconnected transmission owners may be incorporating NERC’s recommendations from the Alert, resulting in new or expanded requests for technical and operational information from large load customers.
The Alert reflects NERC’s view that these risks require near-term industry action while NERC separately evaluates longer-term reforms that could more directly affect data centers, including the possibility that certain large-load customers may become subject to NERC registration and mandatory Reliability Standards. In that respect, the Alert is both an early step toward those broader initiatives and evidence of NERC’s continued commitment to developing a more formal reliability framework for large computational loads.
Read more about NERC’s Level 3 Alert and its implications for NERC registered entities in our recent Power & Pipes post.