NERC stakeholders back draft reliability rules for 50MW-plus compute loads

NERC stakeholders approved draft reliability standards for large computational loads, advancing rules that would cover AI data centers and crypto miners toward federal review. The draft applies to computational loads of 50 megawatts or more connected at 100 kilovolts and above, and it names both AI data centers and crypto miners as targets. A 50 MW crypto site and a 50 MW AI campus would fall into the same bucket; the test is the load's size and connection voltage, not the operator. The next step is the NERC board; if adopted there, the rules go to FERC. The stakeholder vote moves the draft forward without making it final.

AEP agreed to buy up to 1.6 GW of Mainspring units under an eight-year agreement with a stated ceiling of up to $4 billion. It also plans a $4 billion Cheyenne project pairing a 702 MW Bloom Energy fuel-cell installation with a 20-year Google power purchase agreement. Actis added 244 MW of Polish battery storage from DRI: the Kozienice site is acquired and construction-ready, while Trzebinia is signed and completes once operational.