PJM expects major power shortfall amid data center boom, Bloomberg News reports

Feb 6 (Reuters) - U.S. grid operator PJM Interconnection warned of a potential power supply shortfall of up to 60 gigawatts over the next decade as demand from data centers surges, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing its executives who spoke at a meeting.

The shortfall would come unless unprecedented action is taken to support new power plant construction, they said.

Data centers that Big Tech needs for its artificial intelligence expansion are making up the vast majority of the tens of gigawatts of demand waiting to connect to PJM.

Last month, the grid operator unveiled a framework to specifically handle the giant energy-consuming projects, hours after the White House urged emergency action to prevent potential blackouts.

PJM controls the power flow across 13 states largely in the Mid-Atlantic, which includes the world's largest concentration of data centers in Virginia, with other states also becoming burgeoning hubs for server warehouses.