How data centers and natural disasters are pushing the grid to its limits

Let’s Talk Energy and look at the rising stresses to power grids from the growing frequency and severity of extreme weather and wildfires alongside rapidly rising demand from data centers. Keeping the lights on during natural disasters has never been more important as lifesaving services – and life in general- require more power and computing capacity than ever before. And that task is getting more difficult.

From 2018 to 2024, the number of major outage events each year - power cuts affecting 30,000 customers or 15% of customers in a specific US county - increased by about 40% to more than 6,500 annually, according to a March study from the US Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the average duration of these outages rose 23% to just under 12 hours.

Now grids are being asked to add a massive wave of new data centers. Globally, data center power demand grew 50% from 2023 to 2025 and is expected to almost double to just under 250 GW by 2030, according to Rystad Energy forecasts, putting unprecedented strain on the power system.

• Can grids cope with the simultaneous stresses of increasing natural disasters and rapid demand growth from data centers?

• How should big tech, utilities and regulators manage data center demand as well as supply from onsite generation during these types of events?

• What is the outlook for improving the way grids function during weather-related stress, perhaps even leveraging the same AI that is adding to the stress in the first place?