The NERC July 2025 white paper “Characteristics and Risks of Emerging Large Loads” highlights the rapid rise of data centers, AI clusters, cryptocurrency mining, industrial facilities, and hydrogen electrolyzers as unprecedented challenges to the bulk power system (BPS). These loads, ranging from megawatts to gigawatts, can ramp consumption within seconds, shifting demand in ways that strain forecasting, transmission adequacy, and reserves. Risks include frequency and voltage instability, rotor angle instability, harmonics, forced oscillations, and cyber vulnerabilities. NERC stresses that defining “large loads” requires more than peak demand—it must also account for ramp rates, demand profiles, and system interactions. To address these risks, the Large Load Task Force recommends developin

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