Jan. 16 (UPI) -- The Trump administration, backed by a group of eastern-states' governors, are planning to ask the PJM Interconnection electric grid operator to hold an auction to help boost the power supply strained by data centers and lower prices for consumers.
The emergency power auction would offer 15-year contracts for electricity generation from newly built power plants. Normally, auctions offer one-year contracts to energy companies. The proposed auction would be open to tech companies to help pay for their extra power use.
Trump also wants regulators to put a cap on the amount that existing power plants can charge.
The auction would be let the tech giants pay to fuel their energy-gobbling data centers that process data for artificial intelligence. The cost of electricity generation for data centers is driving up the price of power to consumers. The White House can't mandate the auction.
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