Prior to Receiving a Request: NERC's Level 3 Alert on Computational Loads

On May 4, 2026, NERC, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, sent this alert to the grid's planners, owners and operators. It is headed "Essential Action to Industry." Its subject is computational load, and it gives the examples itself: "artificial intelligence training, cryptocurrency mining, and traditional data center uses." Its purpose is to have registered entities take essential actions "to address the risks posed by existing and new computational loads" interacting with the bulk power system, the BPS.

An earlier alert, and what this one is not

This is a Level 3 alert, and NERC had sent a Level 2 alert on large loads before it. In the answers to that one, NERC "found that entities generally did not have sufficient processes, procedures, or methods to address risks associated with computational loads." It sets that against "the robust historical experience with traditional non-power electronic non-computational load." NERC says it "determined a set of immediate actions that registered entities should take to reduce the risk to the BPS that warrant issuance of this Level 3 alert."

The alert also says what it is not. It "is not the same as a Reliability Standard, and it does not create a mandatory obligation to take the Essential Actions," and no penalty follows from not taking them. Nor does it alter the requirements of any approved standard, or excuse a failure to follow its practices where that failure "constitutes a violation of a Reliability Standard." Registered entities "must continue to comply with applicable Reliability Standards."

What the alert does require comes from NERC's rules of procedure, under which registered entities "shall (1) acknowledge receipt of this advisory within the NERC Alert System, and (2) report to NERC on the status of their activities in relation to this Essential Action." The alert requires acknowledgment by midnight Eastern on May 11, 2026, and the report by midnight Eastern on August 3, 2026. For United States entities, NERC will aggregate the responses and give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC, an anonymized report.

Who should act

The alert went first to transmission planners, planning coordinators, transmission owners, balancing authorities, reliability coordinators and transmission operators. A footnote says the actions "are for those entities that have or could expect to have computational loads or that may include these loads in the next two years," including entities with none in their territory that "could feasibly receive a request for one."

Another footnote is about registration. NERC "is currently working to register" a Computational Load Entity for these loads, and "Currently, this would include loads that are 20 MW and greater, connected at 60kV, and contain more than 1 MW of IT Load." The alert describes that registration as work in progress.

Seven essential actions

The alert numbers its essential actions from 1 to 7, and each says who should do what. Under the first, transmission planners and planning coordinators should collect data from the computational load entity, among it the expected minimum and maximum consumption by season, the expected maximum ramp rate in megawatts a minute, up and down, the settings of its uninterruptible power supply, and "what the facility will be used for (e.g., traditional compute and storage, AI training, inference, or cryptocurrency mining)."

Some of that list depends on what the hall will run. A developer asked for ramp rates and a use before the chips and the tenant are settled may have only estimates to give.

The second says the same planners "should study their system" with additional considerations for computational loads. The third says planning coordinators "should revise their definition" of a qualified change, the kind that triggers a review of local area protection, stability limits and other reliability studies, to account for computational load, including its growth and changes to its settings. A footnote gives an example of repurposing: "altering the computational load facility from a data warehouse or crypto mining facility to an AI training facility."

The fourth turns to commissioning. "TOs should establish a commissioning process for computational loads," it says, TOs being transmission owners, with, where possible, "a full facility load and no-load test of the facility," and, if possible, "at least a 10% change from nominal voltage." The tests "should be performed with the facility's computational equipment installed and operational." A footnote leaves room. "Alternate verification of this capability and testing can exist that may satisfy the reliability need of these tests," and the owner "should use engineering judgement on if these tests are feasible at the time of commissioning."

The fifth is about faults on the grid. Transmission planners and planning coordinators "should study and implement corrective actions with TOs on the system side of the interconnection to ensure no non-consequential loss of firm load for computational load from normally cleared non-bus faults." The alert's footnote says such a loss "occurs when load is isolated from the BPS that is not part of removing the faulted equipment," and another carries a limit: "In very limited and rare instances, some normally cleared faults may interrupt firm electric service." On the customer's side, owners "should coordinate with computational load customers, where possible, on customer-side improvements to maximize" the facility's ride-through performance "up to equipment capability limitations to increase stability margins."

The sixth says owners "should install and utilize dynamic fault recording devices to capture and share computational load facility electrical performance during system disturbances." The seventh says transmission operators, reliability coordinators and balancing authorities "should establish Interpersonal Communication" capabilities with computational loads, and "should issue instructions, orders, or similar information to computational load entities through voice, SCADA, or other communication platforms to prevent BES Emergencies." Its footnote says that "computational load entities should comply with the issued instruction or order."

The alert says the load "should comply" with an operator's instruction or order. A developer who signs a computing tenant would want it settled in writing who bears the cost of following one.

How hard, and by when

The alert also asks questions. For each action, every recipient describes the workload of putting it in place, from "Low effort to implement changes" to "Cumbersome workload and effort to implement changes," or says it does not apply to its functional group. Named kinds of entity are asked whether their current practice includes the actions aimed at them. Those who plan to change are asked when, with 2026, 2027, 2028 and "Beyond 2028" as the choices.

The timing the alert asks for stands in a footnote. "Entities should implement these Essential Actions prior to receiving a computational load interconnection request."