.jpg%3Fwidth%3D720%26quality%3D80%26disable%3Dupscale&s=kAmg5aaORKYzlMWL0upGuDAjzwWxVE-6xoVpfMYWKf4)
Fault in Data Center Alley Triggered 3 GW Load Drop
Dominion says data centers transferred to backup power after a transmission line fault, creating one of the largest sudden load changes publicly reported on the US grid.
Get smart on it
A transmission line fault in a major data center region caused hyperscale facilities to automatically switch to backup power, removing more than 3 gigawatts of demand from the power grid in seconds. This event is notable because it demonstrates how large concentrations of data centers respond to disruptions on the bulk power system, and because the transfer was initiated by the data centers' own protection systems rather than by utility or grid operator directives. The incident occurs amid growing pressure on regional power infrastructure, including recent warnings about potential emergency use of backup generators and discussions about grid reforms to support AI infrastructure growth. The timing highlights the challenges of maintaining grid reliability as data centers concentrate in specific regions and consume increasing amounts of electricity.
Related news
Designing High-Performance GPU Kernels with TileLang: Tensor-Core GEMM, Fused Softmax, FlashAttention, and Autotuning
In this tutorial, we explore TileLang as a high-level Python domain-specific language for designing and compiling performance-oriented GPU kernels through TVM. We begin by validating the CUDA environment and establishing reusable benchmarking and numerical-verification utilities, then progressively implement vector addition, tiled tensor-core matrix multiplication, schedule exploration, fused GEMM epilogues, row-wise softmax, and FlashAttention. Throughout the tutorial, we work directly with Ti
One fallen power line exposed a growing AI data center problem. Here’s how to fix it.
A close call in Northern Virginia revealed just how poorly data centers respond to grid disruptions. Here's how to fix the problem.
