Federal regulators back Trump’s plan to speed power to energy-hungry AI data centers

Federal regulators have agreed to let large energy users connect more quickly to the nation’s inefficient and electric transmission system to accommodate surging demand from power-hungry artificial intelligence data centers. Energy Secretary Chris Wright had urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to act in an effort to help the United States better compete with China for superiority in the fast-growing AI sector. Utilities, states and regional grid operators worried that the Republican administration’s plan would remove their authority to manage the process, and clean energy advocates wanted the agency to advance state-level efforts to require the use of renewable energies.