{"id":315489,"date":"2026-08-06T20:40:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T20:40:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/315489\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T20:40:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T20:40:43","slug":"new-york-data-center-ban-wont-solve-its-grid-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/315489\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Data Center Ban Won’t Solve Its Grid Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York isn\u2019t particularly inundated with new data centers<\/a>, but it just became the first U.S. state to ban them. In an executive order<\/a> on 14 July, Governor Kathy Hochul imposed a moratorium of up to a year on data centers that consume 50 megawatts of power or more. <\/p>\n

The ban arose from concerns about data centers\u2019 power and water use and effects on residential electricity bills. Such worries have risen sharply across the U.S. over the last year as more developers propose projects and request grid connections. Data-center energy use in the country is expected to exceed 650 billion kilowatt-hours<\/a> by 2050, doubling to quadrupling today\u2019s consumption.<\/p>\n

Virginia, Texas, and California have received an onslaught of data centers, sparking public backlash and sending grid operators scrambling to keep up. But in New York that\u2019s not the case. Electricity margins in the state\u2019s grid are running thin and power bills are rising<\/a>, but data centers aren\u2019t to blame\u2014for now. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019ve actually seen those fights in New York,\u201d says Daniel Zarrilli<\/a>, who most recently served as the chief climate and sustainability<\/a> officer at Columbia University<\/a> and was previously New York City\u2019s chief resilience officer and chief climate-policy advisor. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing the anticipation of those fights, which is what I imagine led to the moratorium.\u201d<\/p>\n

So the governor\u2019s move is preemptive\u2014and it alone won\u2019t fix the state\u2019s energy woes. \u201cAnytime you open the paper, figuratively speaking, these days, there\u2019s all this discussion about data centers,\u201d says Kevin Lanahan<\/a>, senior vice president of external affairs and corporate communications at New York Independent System Operator<\/a> (NYISO), which runs the state\u2019s power grid<\/a>. \u201cBut the increase in demand that we have experienced and been tracking really has not been attributable to data centers yet.\u201d <\/p>\n

Rather, Lanahan says, New York\u2019s razor-thin electricity margins are mostly a result of the increasing electrification<\/a> of the state\u2019s building and transportation<\/a> sectors. That is only expected to continue, and Lanahan says it will drive forecasted grid strain alongside new manufacturing facilities in NYISO\u2019s territory. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some modern manufacturing and some traditional manufacturing in the queue that promises to increase the demand going forward,\u201d Lanahan says. For example, he cites a Micron semiconductor<\/a> plant under construction near Syracuse that could consume over 1 gigawatt when complete. <\/p>\n

Making matters more difficult, NYISO\u2019s aging grid infrastructure isn\u2019t up to the task of meeting new demand. \u201cWhat we need is new dispatchable generation,\u201d he says. \u201cHard stop.\u201d <\/p>\n

Why New York\u2019s Power Grid Is Vulnerable<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s move is an indicator that the U.S.\u2019s burgeoning anti\u2013data center movement has gained traction. Bans on the power-hungry facilities have proliferated over the past year at the county and municipal levels, but this marked the first statewide prohibition. Texas on Monday<\/a> followed suit in the form of a directive by Governor Greg Abbott ordering the state\u2019s grid operator to pause new data-center connections until it completes an audit of proposed facilities.<\/p>\n

The New York ban comes just a month after NYISO announced<\/a> that New York\u2019s grid wouldn\u2019t have much headroom this summer. Only 417 MW of extra power is available during typical peak demand, NYISO estimates\u2014the lowest summer reserve margin since 2017. Additional pressure on the grid, such as from extreme temperatures, could make margins even thinner and force the use of higher-polluting backup plants. <\/p>\n

Since 2019, 2.9 GW of power generation<\/a> have been added to New York\u2019s grid, but 4.4 GW have come offline, according to a NYISO report<\/a> published in June. The retired facilities were largely fossil-fuel powered and have been taken out of the system because of factors such as mechanical issues and performance decline.<\/p>\n

As a result of the mismatch, summer reserve margins have decreased by 1,810 MW since 2019. \u201cWe have what we assess to be the oldest-generation fleet in the country,\u201d Lanahan says. During heat waves, like one that occurred over the July 4 weekend, NYISO must turn on some of those old facilities. \u201cWe\u2019re relying routinely\u2026on old steam, peaking units that were built sometimes 70 years ago,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the requests for new connections to the grid keep coming. In total, about 14 GW worth of large electricity load await review in NYISO\u2019s grid interconnection queue. Twelve of those gigawatts come from data centers and crypto-mining facilities spread across 40 projects. All but two exceed the moratorium\u2019s 50 MW threshold. NYISO will need to study the requests to see how they\u2019ll impact its system before allowing them to connect. Lanahan says the agency is planning for only about 3 GW to come to fruition within the next 10 years, because projects routinely withdraw from the process or are subject to delays. <\/p>\n

\u201cTogether we\u2019ve got these two bookends: the increased poor performance of the system because we\u2019re relying on aging infrastructure, and then that future challenge to meet,\u201d Lanahan says. <\/p>\n

Solutions such as demand response<\/a> to manage the increased load aren\u2019t enough, he says. Some facilities could build their own power generation\u2014something NYISO is developing rules around in accordance with a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission directive<\/a> issued earlier this summer. <\/p>\n

IEEE Spectrum reached out to Hochul\u2019s office to determine what the state government is doing to address New York\u2019s shrinking reserves and aging fleet. Senior energy and environment communications advisor Ken Lovett<\/a> says that the state is prioritizing renewable energy<\/a> such as wind and solar, plus a nuclear reliability initiative that will add a backbone of 5 GW to the system. \u201cGovernor Hochul will never sacrifice the reliability of the grid,\u201d Lovett says. <\/p>\n

\"Excavators Large manufacturing facilities, such as a Micron<\/a> semiconductor plant currently under construction in upstate New York, are a major factor driving future electricity demand in the state.Mike Groll\/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s Data Center Ban Buys Time<\/p>\n

So New York\u2019s ban on data centers is addressing only part of the problem, and a largely future one at that. It will have no effect on NYISO\u2019s interconnection queue, Lanahan says, as the executive order only bans environmental permitting of data centers, not their grid connection. \u201cProjects are still there,\u201d he says. Project developers are \u201cstill working with us on the exchange of information that\u2019s requisite to complete what\u2019s called a system impact study. That\u2019s the responsibility we have in that process.\u201d <\/p>\n

New York\u2019s moratorium is set to lift when the state\u2019s Department of Public Service completes an assessment of the impact of data centers. Governor Hochul called for using the time, which could last up to a year, to build a regulatory framework that protects the state\u2019s electricity supply, utility bills, and the environment. <\/p>\n

Zarrilli, formerly at Columbia University, says that it\u2019s \u201chard to imagine\u201d the moratorium being extended beyond a year. The governor \u201ccontinues to support AI and the data centers that drive it,\u201d Lovett says. <\/p>\n

Asked about the usefulness of the moratorium, Zarrilli says he\u2019s \u201chopeful\u201d that the pause can give the state time to plan for the future grid issues posed by data centers. Still, he says there\u2019s the possibility that a year is simply not enough time. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a scenario for sure where the state takes this time and comes up with a thoughtful path forward for managing the growth and strengthening the grid, and doing it in a way that\u2019s affordable for New Yorkers,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd then there\u2019s clearly a possible scenario where the time runs out and we haven\u2019t done those things, and then it\u2019s a scramble to figure out what to do next. That latter option would be tragic.\u201d<\/p>\n

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