grid

The US electrical grid does not support so many data centers so they have had an idea: disconnect them to avoid blackouts

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One third of all data centers in the world They are in the US and that is putting a huge burden on the electrical grid. One of the consequences that consumers are noticing is the price increases on the invoice, But electricity operators already foresee another problem: blackouts. What is happening. They tell it in WSJ. The US power grid is beginning to become strained, with grid operators expecting blackouts during periods of high demand. The solution they propose to avoid this is to make data centers disconnect from the network and use their own energy reserves temporarily. The technology companies have not been amused and talk about “discriminatory measures.” Why is it important. In 2023, data centers already consumed 4% of all the country’s electricity and the forecasts are that by 2028 that percentage will increase to 12%. The electrical grid is not prepared to support so much demand and, although it is already expanding, the pace of construction of new data centers is faster. Network operators face a difficult dilemma: powering data centers while maintaining supply to consumers. ‘Kill switch’. PJM Interconnection It is the organization that oversees the energy market in the Midwest, where they have already suffered from the problem of price increases. The concern that blackouts will occur is on the table and PJM has proposed that technology companies create their own energy sources or accept that their supply will be cut off if the network becomes too saturated. They are not the only ones who have raised something like this. With demand expected to double by 2035, Texas passed a law last year that contemplates a ‘kill switch’ that allows large consumers, such as data centers, to be disconnected at times when the network is under “extreme stress.” What the technologies say. As we said, the companies that own these data centers have not been very happy with the proposal. The Data Center Coalitionof which companies such as Google, Microsoft and AWS are part, have stated that the proposal is discriminatory since data centers need a reliable and stable network. They also warn that depending on their own energy reserves could have a negative environmental impact, by forcing them to use solutions such as diesel generators. Waiting times. There is an intermediate scenario in which technology companies can obtain benefits if they accept these conditions. As the electrical infrastructure does not support so much demand, data centers have to wait several years to be connected to the network, normally between 3 and 5 years, although there have been cases up to 8 years. Southwest Power Pool, the grid operator in Texas, has offered data centers a deal: give them access to the grid sooner in exchange for agreeing to be disconnected during times of high demand. According to a recent study Funded by Google, data centers that have more flexible connections (i.e., those that build their own power sources and accept temporary disconnections) typically connect to the grid several years faster than those that do not. Bring your own energy. Despite the reluctance towards that off button, generating your own energy is the most realistic solution and the one towards which the industry seems to be moving. Google recently bought an electrical company in order to obtain its own energy. Others big tech Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle or xAI are also exploring create your own energy solutions such as natural gas and solar panels. Image | Google In Xataka | Drastically reducing data center consumption is crucial for AI. And China has had an idea: submerge them in the sea

The US electrical grid depends on Chinese devices. And that worries their national security

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United States national security has always been measured on aircraft carriers, missiles and satellites. Today, however, a growing part of that security depends on something much more everyday: electricity. The grid that powers homes, hospitals, data centers and military bases is going through —despite political resistance from the Trump administration— an accelerated transformation towards renewable sources. But that transition, key to the country’s energy future, has introduced a silent vulnerability. The back door open. The expansion of solar energy has made the US electrical grid depend massively of inverters made in China, essential devices for converting solar energy into electricity usable by the grid. They are not simple pieces of hardware: they are digital systems, connected, with software, remote communication capabilities and, in many cases, manufactured by companies with direct or indirect links to Beijing. For years, this dependency was seen as an industrial or commercial problem. Today, for those responsible for national security, it has become something very different. The agency notice. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA), the National Security Agency (NSA) and the FBI published a joint notice in which they alleged that cyber actors sponsored by the People’s Republic of China had compromised and maintained persistent access to critical US infrastructure. The identified group, known as Volt Typhoonhad managed to infiltrate organizations in key sectors such as energy, water, transportation and communications. The objective was not to steal data or obtain financial benefits. According to the security agencies documentthe behavior detected “is not consistent with traditional espionage” and points, with “high confidence”, to a different strategy: enter critical systems, remain hidden for long periods and wait. Wait for a crisis or conflict scenario in which those same infrastructures may be interrupted or degraded. It’s exactly the scenario that FBI Director Christopher Wray has described before Congress warning that China is positioning itself to attack American civilian infrastructure as part of its strategic planning. From stealing secrets to preparing chaos. For years, cyber activities attributed to China focused on the theft of intellectual property and trade secrets. Today, according to security officialsthe objective is different: to create the ability to cause internal chaos in the United States and limit its room for maneuver in a conflict, especially in the Indo-Pacific. The systems attacked by Volt Typhoon—such as ports, regional power grids, or water utilities—have no immediate economic or political value. Precisely for this reason, experts conclude that the only reason to infiltrate them is to be able to sabotage them later. It is not necessarily about causing a national blackout. As government sources explainselective interruptions, cascading failures or highly visible incidents would be enough to generate social panic, put pressure on policy makers and condition decision-making. Towards the transition. The U.S. power grid is increasingly reliant on solar inverters and storage systems—so-called investor-based resources— which are not simple pieces of hardware. They are digital, connected systems that regulate the flow of energy, stabilize the frequency and constantly communicate with other elements of the network. According to the In Broad Daylight reportprepared by Strider Technologies, since 2015 China has exported nearly 2.68 billion kilograms of inverters to the United States, dominating two-thirds of the world market. To understand the scale of the phenomenon: 86% of electricity companies analyzed by Striderwhich represent about 12% of the installed capacity in the United States, use at least one Chinese supplier considered risky. Together, these devices are present in 5,400 megawatts of solar capacity spread across 22 states, enough electricity to keep more than a million homes powered for a year. The concern is not trivial. A Chinese manufacturer remotely disabled inverters installed in the United States and other countries amid a contract dispute, demonstrating that manufacturers retain operational control on already deployed equipment. Furthermore, research cited by The Washington Post reveal the existence of undocumented communication components in some inverters, capable of connecting to external networks without the operators’ knowledge. According to Striderthe problem is compounded because Chinese academic and military institutions have produced thousands of studies on foreign power grid vulnerabilities, many of them focused on deliberate disruption scenarios. China has come forward against the accusations. A spokesman for its embassy in Washington responded to Reuters and Washington Post rejecting that there is a security problem and denouncing what he described as a “generalization” of the concept of national security to discredit Chinese advances in energy infrastructure. Beijing has not announced technical reviews, external audits or changes to the control mechanisms of these devices. A dilemma without a simple solution. In the short term, US authorities have ordered electric companies to limit or monitor external communications from these devices. However, as officials recognizethe fragmentation of the electricity sector—with thousands of operators and unequal standards—makes a uniform response difficult. In the medium term, the dilemma is more complex. A massive recall of Chinese hardware could put energy supplies at risk at a time of strong demand growth. Maintaining it implies accepting a strategic vulnerability. In the long term, the consensus among analysts is clear: energy is no longer just an economic or climate issue, but a matter of national security. As Strider’s report concludesensuring the transition to clean energy without creating new strategic dependencies has become a defensive priority. The new dimension of national security. The US power grid does not need to be attacked tomorrow to become a pressure tool today. The vulnerability already exists, integrated in the form of everyday devices, invisible to the end user but critical to the functioning of the country. The question raised by the official documents themselves is not whether that capacity will be used, but in what context and for what purpose. Because, in the strategic competition of the 21st century, the control of energy can be as decisive as the control of territory. Image | Unsplash and freepik Xataka | The US and China are involved in a controversy over renewable devices: what we know (and, above all, what we do not know) so far

Spain needs to modernize its electrical grid, so the remuneration rate has increased. The effect will be noticeable in the next five years

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Until now we have observed the electricity bill as has increased after the April blackout. But this time the focus is not on the receipt, but on a silent decision that the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) has just made and that will determine how much it will cost to keep the light on in the next five years. Piecemeal. The CNMC has sent to the Council of State the circulars that establish how the transport and distribution of electricity is remunerated between 2026 and 2031, the so-called “network business”: the towers, cables and transformation centers that make it possible for energy to reach homes, factories and hospitals. The technical detail is a figure: 6.58%. This new percentage – up from 5.58% – is, according to the regulator, an update that better reflects current financial conditions, after a period of rising interest rates. However, the measure is far from the 7% or 7.5% requested by the large electricity companies grouped in Aelec (Iberdrola, Endesa, EDP and Naturgy) and that the small distributors represented by CIDE also claimed. And in the pocket? Good question. These circulars, which will come into force on January 1, 2026 if the Council of State does not introduce changes, define the remuneration criteria for the entire period 2026–2031. In the short term, the increase will not be directly noticeable on the bill, but it will influence the regulated costs that support the electrical system and that we all pay. According to CNMC calculationsthe impact of the change will be between 0.9% and 1.1% of the total annual costs of the system, depending on the level of investment. The purpose of this rate is to guarantee that companies that maintain and expand the electrical network receive a reasonable return on their invested capital. If the percentage is too low, investment is discouraged; If it is too high, the costs of the system and, in the long run, the consumer’s bill increase. The regulator look for a balance point: enough attractiveness for lines to continue being built and reinforced, but without transferring an extra cost to homes. A change in calculation. For the first time, historical data and future forecasts will be combined to estimate the cost of companies’ debt, rather than relying solely on past interest rates. New components are also incorporated: transaction costs (such as commissions for issuing debt), the so-called cost-of-carry (cost of maintaining financial positions) and a correction due to the European Central Bank’s bond purchase programs, which had artificially reduced the profitability of public debt and, therefore, the risk-free rate. According to the organizationthis is a “more realistic” methodology that incorporates recent market volatility. The change will be applied in a phased manner during the six years of the new regulatory period and expands the margin of recognized investment, including not only new infrastructure but also improvements and optimization of existing ones. The goal: keep bills contained while the network is modernized. The “K parameter”. Beyond the technicalities, what is at stake is Spain’s ability to electrify its economy without skyrocketing the bill. The CNMC has set it at 257 euros per connected kilowatt, compared to 232 euros in the previous draft. The companies maintain that the real cost is around 375 euros/kW, so the improvement falls far short. This parameter determines how many industrial projects, data centers or new homes can be connected to the network without the connection being economically unfeasible. According to the employerlimiting remuneration to that level “prevents connecting part of the new consumers” and can put the competitiveness of entire sectors at risk. This has been the response. Aelec expressed its “deep concern” and warned that the new circulars “compromise the electrification and industrial development of the country.” The employers insist that the rate is still below European levels – between 6.8% and 7.5% – and warns that “it discourages investment just when the country needs to deploy more electrical infrastructure.” More than 67 business and social associations have joined his call. In a manifesto cited by Aelec itselfwarn that, if conditions are not reviewed, “the Spanish electricity networks could collapse.” The employers’ association also criticizes that the CNMC has reduced the recognized maintenance costs by 37%, which, in its opinion, may deteriorate the quality of the service and stop the connection of new clients. For its part, the CNMC maintains that its obligation is to protect the consumer and guarantee the sustainability of the system. The organization seeks to “limit the impact of investments on customer bills” and remembers that everything that electricity companies invest in these networks is paid as fixed charges on the electricity bill. The balance, the regulator insistsconsists of remunerating the necessary investments without overloading the end user. A decision with long-term effects. Behind this technical dispute lies a fundamental question: can Spain electrify its economy at the necessary pace without increasing the remuneration of the networks? The Government has launched a plan to increase investment in networks by 62% until 2030, with around 13.6 billion euros to reinforce the national network, as El Economista recalled. However, Five Days points out that the new limitations of the CNMC could stop part of these projects and leave out consumers with higher connection costs. The electricity companies are now preparing allegations before the Council of State, while the regulator defends that its proposal offers stability and predictability for six years, a rarity in a context of financial and energy volatility. An invisible, but transcendental decision. The figure of 6.58% will not say much to the average consumer, but a good part of Spain’s electrical future depends on it. It defines whether there will be enough investment to connect the new factories, electric vehicle chargers or data centers that support digitalization, and also how much each family will pay to keep that network operational. You won’t notice anything on your next bill, but this decision determines how much you’ll pay—and how reliable your grid will be—over the next five years. Between containing prices and … Read more

Data centers do not want to depend on the conventional electrical grid. Solution: build your own plants

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AI data centers have sparked a new fever: the so-called “bring your own power.” The demand and consumption The pressure these plants impose is so enormous that they do not want to depend on external sources. The solution is theoretically simple, and we are already seeing how when a new data center is built, it is normal for some type of power plant to be built next to it. We are seeing it now. The data centers that OpenAI and Oracle are building in West Texas are accompanied by the creation of a natural gas-based power plant. Both xAI’s Colossus 1 and Colossus 2 in Memphis take advantage of gas turbines. And as they also indicate in The Wall Street Journalmore than a dozen Equinix data centers across the US are powered by stand-alone fuel cells. If the conventional electrical grid cannot be used, nothing happens: you create a power plant and that’s it. The US has an electrical problem. The technology giants would prefer to connect to the conventional grid, but bottlenecks in the supply chain, bureaucracy – permits, licenses – and the slowness in building the necessary transmission infrastructure prevent this. According to the ICV firmThe United States would need to add about 80 GW of new generation capacity per year to keep pace with AI, but right now less than 65 GW per year are being built. There is another direct consequence of this problem: the rise in the electricity bill. Data centers that look like cities. The needs and ambition of AI companies has made data centers become calculation and resource consumption monsters. One can only consume as much electricity as 10,000 stores in the Walmart electronics chain, WSJ estimates. Before 2020, data centers represented less than 2% of US energy consumption. By 2028 they are expected to represent up to 12%. A 1.5 GW data center, for example, would have consumption similar to that of the city of San Francisco, with about 800,000 inhabitants. China has a lot of advantage over the US in this. While the US deal with that lack of powerChina does not stop investing in new energy generation. According to data According to the National Energy Administration, the Asian country added 429 GW of new energy generation in 2024, while the US only added 50 GW. It is true that China has four times the population, but its centralized planning is helping to avoid problems that affect the US electrical grid. The white knight to the rescue. Faced with this shortage, natural gas has become the preferred resource for on-site energy generation. Although large turbines have long delivery times, smaller turbines or fuel cells that use natural gas are being used because of their rapid availability and installation. Renewables lose steam. Meanwhile, things are not promising for renewable energies (solar and wind, especially). There are about 214 GW of new generation theoretically in projectbut spending on such technologies could decline due to the potential loss of tax credits: the Trump administration criticizes that those clean energies do not provide a constant flow necessary for AI. The nuclear alternative. Faced with this apparent decline of nuclear energy, there is a growing interest in compact nuclear reactors (SMR), which allow us to provide the advantages of this type of center and a flexibility that can be very interesting for AI data centers. amazon, Google, Goal either Microsoft They are betting part of their future on nuclear powerbut that It doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges to overcome.. Image | Wolfgang Weiser In Xataka | World record in nuclear fusion: the German Wendelstein 7-X reactor has broken all records

99% of the Internet travels through submarine cables. Now there is a much more ambitious plan in progress: join the electricity grid

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At first glance, the seas are an empty landscape. Under its waters, the image is another, through it a network of invisible highways that already support our day to day: the submarine cables that carry the 99% of world communications. Now, a new generation of electrical interconnectors – thousands of kilometers and gigavatio power – aspires to bring sun, wind and hydraulic where they are missing, when they are missing. The promise is simple: that electricity travels with the sun and wind through schedules; The execution, not so much. The starting point: The North Sea. The United Kingdom and Denmark premiered at the end of 2023 the Viking Link, a 765 km cable that crosses the North Sea and allows you to import electricity when wind is missing on the island and export when left over. It is the longest interconnector in the world in operation, but, as Financial Times warned: “It may not be for a long time.” The British media report details That on the horizon there are much more ambitious plans: join Canada with the United Kingdom and Ireland through a 4,000 km cable, link Morocco with Europe or export Australian solar energy to Singapore through more than 4,300 km of submarine cable. Through the cables. This new megaproject makes it clear that countries have been pursuing a connection with renewables for some time, because there is a mismatch between production and consumption, and we must solve it. The most illustrative example is AapowerLink in Australia. The Suncable company plans to install 3 GW from Solar in the northern territory, store part in batteries and sell it both to Darwin and Singapore, through an underwater cable of more than 4,000 km. In the words of his CEO, Ryan Willemsen-Bell, collected by Financial Times: “Australia has abundant land and sun. The ability to share those benefits with our neighbors has enormous potential.” In parallel, the North Atlantic Transmission One Link seeks to connect the Canadian hydroelectric plant with Europe. The time differential is its great asset: when Canada sleeps, the United Kingdom starts the day; When in the North Sea, wind blows at midnight, New York is preparing dinner. A lesson from the Internet. The idea may sound futuristic, but there are already solid precedents. As we have underlined Xatakathe entire planet is furrowed by submarine data cables, authentic digital highways that have demonstrated the viability of infrastructure of tens of thousands of kilometers. The Southern Cross Cable Network, 30,500 km, connects Australia, New Zealand and the United States since 2000. The newly opened 2Africa, 45,000 km, surrounds the African continent and reaches Barcelona and India. And in Spain, cables such as tide (6,605 km, Meta and Microsoft) or Grace Hopper (7,191 km, from Google) link Bilbao with the east coast of the US. The experience of these data networks provides an obvious parallelism: if we already move information on a global scale, why not also clean energy? Although not everything is so easy. From Financial Times alert a tensioning supply chain: The manufacture of cables, transformers and converting stations does not supply. The waiting deadlines are lengthened, and the availability of specialized ships to tend cable is limited. To that are added political risks. In Norway, the export of electricity to its neighbors has triggered the internal debate on prices. In the United Kingdom, the Government rejected this year to support the X-Links project to bring energy from Morocco, claiming “high level of inherent risk”. And with the ongoing Ukraine War, the threat of sabotages to critical infrastructure It is a fact. Looking inside. In the Spanish case, the problem is more domestic than international. As we have explained in Xatakathe country has run more than anyone to lift renewables in the “emptied Spain”, but has not deployed the cables to bring that electricity to the cities. The result is a “broken bridge”: at noon there are plenty of cheap megawatts that are cut or sell at zero price, and at night the network needs gas support, more expensive the market. According to data from the AELēC employer, 83.4% of connection knots are already saturated, which prevents hooking new consumptions such as industries, data centers or electrolyiners. The challenge, in short, is not to plan and reinforce the networks; as well as improve interdependence with other countries to break With the French bottleneck. A map of interdependencies. Beyond the technical and economic, these electric highways draw a new geopolitical map. Just as pipelines and gas pipelines marked the twentieth century, renewable interconnections can define alliances and dependencies in the XXI. The engineer Simon Ludlam, co-founder of the Canada-UK project, summed it up in Financial Times: “The most important nuclear reactor is in heaven, and its energy can be shared thanks to the rotation of the earth. But we need to be interconnected.” The sun that shines in the Australian desert or the water that falls in Canada could light, in a matter of seconds, the lights of cities to thousands of kilometers. The energy transition not only depends on producing renewables, but also on learning to move them. If the pipelines defined the petroleum geopolitics, the electric highways can become the invisible arteries of the coming world. Image | Unspash and What’s Inside Xataka | The Google Maps of submarine cables: an imposing interactive map that allows us to know the skeleton of the modern world

will pause its AI during heat waves to relieve the electricity grid

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Google has announced A pioneering agreement with two of the main electrical companies in the United States to reduce the consumption of their data centers during energy demand peaks. In other words, Google will pause its artificial intelligence during heat waves. AI is hungry. It is no secret that generative artificial intelligence has a voracious energy appetite. Train and execute the huge models that drive from the summaries in the Google search engine to the youtube folded videos requires dozens or hundreds of megawatts of power continuously. This massive consumption, concentrated in huge data centers, has become a growing concern for electricity companies, which see how energy demand triggers at a rate that the current infrastructure is not prepared to support. An unthinkable movement. Until now, the main concern was to add enough power to the network, with solutions that go From reopening abandoned nuclear centers until Sign the largest hydroelectric agreement in history. But Google’s last movement proposes an unthinkable solution in the competitive AI industry: instead of just increasing energy supply, managing demand flexibly. The measure, agreed with two of the main electrical companies in the United States (TVA and I & M.), arrives just when both states prepare for an intense heat wave. While millions of homes and companies light their air conditioners, putting the electricity to the limitGoogle has agreed to reduce the consumption of its less urgent tasks to avoid overloads and possible blackouts. Demand flexibility. Google has not invented anything new. This type of Flexible response to network demand It already applies in many industries, usually to pay a lower price for the light. Google itself has used it for a long time to postpone non -essential tasks, such as the processing of YouTube videos, moving them to data centers in other time regions or executing them at night, when the demand for the network is lower. The novelty is that, for the first time, it will apply contractual to automatic learning workloads, the heart of the AI. According to the agreement, if the demand for energy increases dangerously or there is an interruption in the network due to extreme weather conditions, operators can ask Google to reduce their consumption. Google will respond by reprogramming or limiting non -urgent tasks until the network stabilizes. You won’t run out of Google Maps. The company has made it clear that this demand response system has its limits. Critical services that require 100% reliability and constant availability, such as the search engine, Google Maps or cloud services for clients of essential sectors such as health, will not be affected. Flexibility will apply to tasks such as the training of new AI models thanks to advances in techniques such as Checkpointing (which allows you to save the progress of training and resume it later). A model could be trained exclusively at night, when the network capacity is greater, without losing the work already done. What does Google win with this? In addition to relieving the overload of the network and preventing off, the clients of the network will end up reducing the light of the light thanks to this system. Including Google data centers. Image | Pawel Czerwinski in Unspash In Xataka | The AI has disrupted Google’s plans to be sustainable. His plan to remedy it: the “four m”

The AI is putting the US power grid in trouble. And Google has already taken a measure that shows the magnitude of the problem

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Google data centers work 24/7, processing searches, videos and now also AI models. But not everything can grow at the same pace. In several areas of the United States, electricity begin to notice the pressure: Energy demand is accelerated and In some places already exceed capacity forecasts. Given that scenario, Google moves: It will reduce the consumption of your data centers when there are peaks, prioritizing the essential and postponing what you can expect. The novelty is the focus: Machine Learning charges. Artificial intelligence progresses. The electricity grid notice. The expansion of AI is going so fast that companies receive more connection requests than they can meet in certain areas. The consequence is no longer only technique: there is an energy restriction that conditions the deployment. It’s not about turning off machines, but moving loads. The “demand response“It consists of adapting consumption to what the network can supply at all times. In practice: displace or reduce non -urgent loads – like the processing of programmable videos or tasks – outside critical hours. It is a tool used in intensive industries and cryptocurrency mining, now applied to data centers with AI. The system has clear limits. This type of flexibility is not applicable in all centers or in all situations. Google recognizes it clearly: there are services that you just can’t expect. Platforms such as Search, Maps or the cloud for critical sectors – such as health or emergencies – require continuous availability, without margin for load settings. There are no “non -urgent” tasks that can be postponed. Therefore, although the response to demand is a valuable tool, its implementation will remain partial and selective. It requires planning, previous agreements and an infrastructure designed to absorb that type of reorganization. Not all centers can do it. But where it is possible, it becomes a real way to relieve pressure on the network without compromising the essential. There is already experience, and now. It is not theory. Google tested this flexibility With the public electric of Omaha and reduced demand associated with Machine Learning in three network events last year. The next step are formal agreements with Indiana Michigan Power (Fort Wayne) and with Tennessee Valley Authority: in Indiana it will be integrated from the beginning of the new center, and in Tennessee it will be applied coordinated with the operator. From experiment to strategy. What began as a pilot becomes operational policy: Managing demand flexible helps stabilize the network and accelerates the connection of large loads without waiting for new lines or centrals. It is not a magical solution, but it wins time while the infrastructure is reinforced. Images | Xataka with Gemini 2.5 Flash | Andrey Metelev In Xataka | Google has signed the largest hydroelectric agreement in history. You no longer know where to get more energy to feed your AI

California will test a “co -pilot of AI” at one of the most sensitive points of its electricity grid. Can go very well … or very bad

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There is a less visible part of the electricity grid: the one that goes out on purpose. From time to time, whole teams must disconnect by maintenance. They are routine tasks, but their coordination and validation are decisive so that the system continues to work. In California, that work falls to the California Independent System Operator (Caiso) human team. Now, an artificial intelligence will begin to collaborate with them. Caiso has launched A pilot project with the firm Oati. The objective is to verify how a language model, similar to the one that drives Chatgptcan attend in a critical mission: manage requests – especially the scheduled – that come daily to perform maintenance in the network. Artificial intelligence to attend a task that cannot fail Many of these requests imply, although not always, temporarily disconnect key assets. If the information is incomplete or incorrect, the consequences can be felt in real time: from Network instability even alterations in the electricity market. Therefore, although part of the flow is already automated, the final review remains manual and exhaustive. Between 2020 and 2025, internal graphs show a high volume of applications, with clear spring and autumn peaks, the usual maintenance windows. That seasonality, added to the total number of requests, converts maintenance management into one of the most complex operating challenges in the system. The tool is called Oati Genie and is raised as a co -pilot of AI. Detect anomalies, extract operational information and suggest steps based on previous cases. To achieve this, it combines retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) with a system of multiple agents: operators formulate questions in natural language and receive contextualized answers, with links to documents and records that support them. The operator can, for example, ask what work could affect a certain electric route and obtain a history, procedures and public data such as those of OASIS (Open Access Same-Time Information System), the regulated base that centralizes technical and market information in real time. That consultation, which previously demanded manual searches, now comes with much more agility. The co -pilot does not decide for itself, its role serves to reinforce and expedite the human decision. If everything is going as planned, the tool will enter internal tests before the end of the year. Those who use it may report failures, limitations or improvements and help profile their evolution. It is not an isolated experiment, but part of a broader strategy to Apply to other areas of the system. The plan is underway, but there is still knowing if Oati Genie will fulfill what he promises. It may become a daily ally for operators; Maybe it’s just a step on the road to a smarter network. The only sure thing is that the electricity sector already explores that address. Images | Caiso | Javad Esmaeili In Xataka | Harvest wheat or kilowatts? The new account that many farmers make in Spain

He has just paid 1.5 million to expand the electricity grid until its fifth datacenter

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If you pass through the A-23 at the height of Huesca and see operators opening a new underground channel for the electricity grid, you are seeing the new fat cable of Amazon. The company founded by Jeff Bezos continues to expand through Aragon With your data centers. Check me a cable here, literally. The last movement of the technological giant is an investment of almost 1.5 million euros to connect the electricity network to its future data center in the Walqa technology park, on the outskirts of Huesca. According to him Official Gazette of AragonAmazon Web Services (AWS) has projected the construction of an underground line of 1.4 kilometers that will pass under the A-23 highway and the N-330 road to take 15 kV of tension to its future center. This double circuit will connect the PHUS electric substation with the Amazon plot in Walqa. A project of 714 million. The new AWS Data Center in Walqa will occupy about 70 hectares. Construction work began at the end of April on old poultry farms. Amazon has planned a total investment of 714.6 million euros in this complex., One of the five new data centers that will be built in Aragon, adding to the existing three This center of Huesca is one of the five new data centers That AWS is going to build in the community, adding to the three already existing. The other four will be located in the Burgo de Ebro (two) and Villanueva de Gállego (two). All of them will be interconnected by a dense fiber optic network, functioning as a single and powerful “AWS region.” The Amazon Empire in Aragon. The abundance of cheap renewable energy, the available soil and regulatory facilities have consolidated Aragon as a digital hub of southern Europe. And Amazon is one of the companies that is most expanding in the area. The three locations that form the triangle of the EU-SOUTH-2 region of Amazon Web Services a data center in the Walqa Technology Park (Huesca), two data centers in the Burgo de Ebro (Zaragoza) and two other data centers in Villanueva de Gálgo (also Zaragoza). The three are expanding with five new buildings, in addition to electricity and fiber optic lines. In total, Amazon plans to occupy 354 hectares in Aragon. Not only Amazon expands in Spain. With one planned investment of 15.7 billion euros For the next decade, AWS is the data company that grows the most in Spain, but not the only one. Microsoft has announced investments of 6,690 million euros in Zaragoza and of 1,950 million in Madridwhere Oracle and IBM are also expanding. One of the most recent landings is Malo, which at the end of 2024 announced an investment of more than 750 million euros in a 190 hectares campus in Talavera de la Reina (Toledo). Also looking for soil and renewable availability. Image | AWS In Xataka | Amazon, Google and now also goal: the data centers industry is still shot in Spain

Your electric grid has several weak points

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The Spanish Government and Electricity of Spain, the operator responsible for ensuring that the Spanish electrical system is efficient and safe, have not yet announced What has caused the total electric blackout that We have suffered in Spain and Portugal For many hours. We may never get to know with absolute certainty What has triggered this collapsebut what we know is how Spanish electrical infrastructure works and what are its weak points. To identify its vulnerabilities it is crucial that we know with some precision what the structure of the network is, the role of the strategic interconnection points (they are known as nodes of the network) and how electricity is transported from the facilities in which it is generated to the places where it is consumed. An interesting note before getting into flour: in 2024 23.2% of Electricity of the Spanish Energy Mix It had a wind origin; 20%, nuclear; 17%, photovoltaic solar; 13.6%, combined cycle; 13.3%, hydraulic; and the rest proceeded from the burning of coal or other renewable sources. The electricity grid has a complex structure with several critical points To understand how electrical energy is generated and how the infrastructure that is responsible for transporting it to our homes and companies works, we need to investigate the structure of the network. The first link in the chain, as we can intuit, are the centers for the generation of electricity. As we have just seen, the Spanish energy mix is ​​mainly held on wind farms, nuclear centralsphotovoltaic solar facilities, combined cycle plants and hydraulic plants. Once it has been generated in the production centers, electricity is distributed throughout the Spanish territory through A high voltage network which has 44,000 km of 220 kV and 400 kV lines. However, close to both the facilities in which electricity is generated and the places where it is consumed Electrical substations are found. These nodes of the network are responsible for transforming the voltage with the purpose that electricity can be transported with the minimal possible energy loss. This is the reason why the substations that are close to generation plants raise high voltage energy (from 200 to 400 kV). Electricity is distributed throughout the Spanish territory through a high voltage network that has 44,000 km of 220 kV and 400 kV lines Once electricity is close to the points where intermediate substations will be consumed are responsible for reducing the voltage to 132 kV. Red Eléctrica de España is responsible for the administration of high voltage infrastructure, while medium and low voltage networks (15 to 30 kV) are managed by Endesa, Naturgy, Iberdrola and other energy companies. We already have a quite accurate idea about how the electricity grid is carrying electricity to our homes, but we have overlooked very important nodes: the electrical control centers. These facilities are part of the infrastructure administered by Red Eléctrica de España. They are responsible for supervising in real time the operation of the entire network to identify anomalies and prevent possible malfunction. These nodes are precisely those that are in all likelihood have a leading role in the resolution of the total blackout that we have suffered just a few hours ago. However, we still need to investigate more links more than one infrastructure that, as we are checking, is complex. On the one hand, the Spanish electricity grid is connected to the electrical infrastructure of three countries: France, through four connections with a capacity of 2,800 MW; Portugal, with several links that add up to 3,300 MW; And finally, Morocco, through a single underwater cable of 700 MW. The cooperation of France and Morocco has been crucial when restarting the Spanish electrical infrastructure. To conclude, we cannot ignore the last link in the chain: the urban transformers that we can all see in our locations and neighborhoods. They are responsible for reducing the voltage to a level that can be used by the appliances and the devices we have at home (230 volts). These are the weak points of the Spanish Electric Red We already know with some precision what the structure of the electricity network is and what role each of its nodes has, so we can understand effortlessly what makes it vulnerable. One of its most obvious weak points is The regional imbalance which occurs between excess generation in southern Spain and the high demand of the center and the northern peninsular. The facilities of Andalusia and Extremadura produce a lot of electricity, but the greatest demand does not come from these autonomous communities; It resides in Madrid, Catalonia and other communities of the North Spanish. This imbalance submits the network to an effort that requires the implementation of reinforcements that are not always available. The average and low voltage network is touching saturation in many areas In addition, the average and low voltage network is touching saturation in many areas. This simply means that the demand for electricity at some points is greater than the service capacity that is available in those areas. This causes that there are currently several thousand generation megawatts that have been requested and They cannot be delivered Because the network has reached its maximum electricity transport capacity. If we also take into account that some parts of the transport network are old and have supported for many years a great effort it is reasonable to conclude that it is necessary to reinforce them and carry out effective maintenance. Whatever this is not all. Renewable sources have more and more weight In the energy mix, while fossil origin does not stop losing relevance. There is no doubt that it is good news on the way to An energy model free of pollutant emissions in which we have embarked, but poses a challenge: the control centers that we have spoken some lines above must be able to sustain the stability of frequency and tension. It is possible, in fact, that this is the origin of the collapse that we have lived a few hours … Read more

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