The increasing demand for energy by Artificial Intelligence (AI) is causing a boom in the construction of data centers in the USA. This not only poses a challenge for the environment and climate but also impacts the power supply to American households. An analysis published by financial service Bloomberg reveals that these rapidly built data centers are causing unwanted harmonics in the power grid. These are waves with frequencies much higher than the fundamental frequencies (50 Hz).
Harmonics typically arise from non-linear loads in the supply network. This occurs when the electrical voltage is distorted due to various factors. Common causes include overloaded transformers, power supplies with peak rectifiers, and the use of power converter valves. As a result, the smooth operation of other consumers can be affected.
The new investigation relies mainly on about 770,000 sensors from Whisker Labs. The company monitors power quality in real-time using measuring devices for residential buildings. Almost 90 percent of all US households are less than half a mile (800 meters) from one of these sensors. According to the study conducted with the market research institute DC Byte, more than half of the monitored households with the strongest harmonics and the associated potential disturbances in power quality are within 20 miles (about 32 kilometers) of significant data centers. Census data shows that about 3.7 million Americans live in the most affected areas.
AI as a Hammer for the Power Grid
The measurement period of the analysis includes data from February to October 2024. Within 50 miles of major AI data centers, more than three-quarters of the distorted power measurements are found. According to Bloomberg, it’s more than just a question of whether there is enough electricity to turn on the lights. Poor harmonics can degrade power quality so much that household appliances could be destroyed, and the risk of electrically induced fires increases during voltage spikes.
Overall poorer power quality can also cause lights to flicker and lead to voltage drops and power outages. Network operators and individual power suppliers have questioned the results of the evaluation. Self-measured distortions were within industry standards.
Bob Marshal, the head of Whisker Labs, sees harmonics as early signs of “stress and problems” in the power grid. AI acts like “a big hammer” for the grid, explained Hasala Dharmawardena from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Data centers represent “a very large load”: the power demand of a data center is about 10,000 times higher than that of a typical household.
Individual data centers specializing in AI services require as much energy as small cities. They are built at record speed within 12 or 24 months – much faster than network planning occurs. This exacerbates developments such as an aging power infrastructure in the USA, the increase in extreme weather, and the electrification of other areas of daily life, such as the rise of electric cars. In this country, the government assumes that the power consumption of data centers will double by 2037.