US Energy Dept pushes 60-day grid approvals for AI datacenters
The US Energy Department is pushing regulators to slash wait times for connecting power-hungry AI datacenters to the electrical grid. Under new proposals, connection reviews would be limited to 60 days instead of the current multi-year delays that threaten to stall America’s AI infrastructure buildout.
The Biden administration is taking direct aim at one of the biggest bottlenecks facing America’s artificial intelligence boom: the painfully slow process of connecting massive datacenters to the nation’s overtaxed electrical grid.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright has directed federal energy regulators to implement new rules that would dramatically accelerate grid connections for the megawatt-hungry computing facilities powering the AI revolution. According to a letter obtained by industry sources, Wright instructed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to establish procedures that could slash connection review times to just 60 days.