Intelligence Update
Near miss highlights need for new grid codes
On July 22, 2026, an issue with a single power transmission line threatened to destabilize the largest grid region in the US.
The initial fault was not serious, but it prompted dozens of data centers in Northern Virginia (US), representing more than 3 GW of data center capacity or around 3% of the region's total grid demand, to switch to backup generation. This caused voltage spikes across the network and complicated recovery. An event that is usually resolved in milliseconds took more than 10 minutes to address, affecting power quality across multiple states.
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