New Trump Administration Energy Rule Would Enable Data Centers with ‘Large Loads’

Data center being built The reason for this is fairly familiar, with unprecedented euphoria across the United States: business needs AI A large amount of electricity and computing power. Every time you use an app like DALL-E, say, create one of those dumb AI-generated images Mickey Mouse committed the 9/11 terrorist attacksYou are apparently using as much energy as it takes To charge an iPhone. Look at how much electricity is now being used if millions of Americans did this at the same time.

The Trump administration has signaled that it is a friend of the AI ​​industry (it recently launched AI infrastructure initiative Stargate) and so, it makes perfect sense that its energy secretary, Chris Wright, has decided to cut red tape in hooking data centers up to the electrical grid.

In a statement Published on Friday, the Energy Department announced plans to amend current rules to allow companies that use large amounts of electricity to connect to the grid more quickly: “US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright today directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to begin the rulemaking process with a proposed rule that would allow large data loading centers in the United States Interconnections can be accelerated to high speeds. and production in domestic revival.”

Are you listening to that, guys? Chris Wright is apparently such a big fan of large loads that, in an unbridled frenzy, he’s now helping usher in a new era of simple data center connectivity. While the specifics of Wright’s proposed rule are a bit complicated, the obvious takeaway seems to be an effort to make the regulatory process less onerous on those who want to connect many servers to the grid. Register Note that One proposed rule is to “limit the time for review of connection decisions to 60 days,” ostensibly so that applicants are not bogged down in lengthy review processes. In a letter About the proposed rule changes published on the government’s website, Wright wrote:

“To usher in a new era of American prosperity, we must ensure that all American and domestic industries have access to affordable, reliable and secure electricity. To do this, large loads, including AI data centers served by public utilities, must be able to connect to the transmission system in a timely, orderly and non-discriminatory manner.”

He added:

“This administration is committed to revitalizing domestic manufacturing/and driving American AI innovation.’ Both will require unprecedented and extraordinary amounts of electricity and substantial investment in the nation’s interstate transmission system. We must do it efficiently, fairly and quickly.”

The data center industry is growing, and, despite all that That “bubble” talk When it comes to business AI, it shows no signs of slowing down. Companies like Nebius—which most of us had never heard of twelve months ago—are in the process of making themselves indispensable to large parts of the digital economy. Nebius, which is an AI infrastructure provider (it manages data centers), recently Made a deal with MicrosoftAnd Went to a robotaxi farm with Uber. Its share price also increased slightly 350 percent this yearSo, suffice it to say—for now—it really does pay for a lot of servers.