US panel approves PJM's registry of data centers, rejects plan to curtail power to them

FERC rejects PJM's temporary curtailment plan to manage data centers PJM can move forward with data center tracking on October 12 PJM can submit revised curtailment plan with changes By Laila Kearney NEW YORK, Oct 12 (Reuters) — US energy regulators said the country's biggest power grid — PJM Interconnection — can begin developing a database on Monday to track data centers, whose rapid expansion has driven up prices and threatened the reliability of the grid covering 67 million people, according to a regulatory filing. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, in an order filed on Friday, rejected other central parts of a plan by PJM to manage data centers by temporarily shutting off grid power to the server warehouses to avoid blackouts in times of high energy demand. The database approved by FERC could help the grid plan for the growth of data centers by revealing details about facilities like energy providers, in-service dates and power ramping-up schedules, as well as backup generation, fuel sources and location. FERC said that PJM could submit a revised curtailment plan but would need to address various issues, including why data centers would be temporarily shut off from the