[AI Data Centers Ignite 'Power Struggle': U.S. Plans to Accelerate Grid Integration of Large-Scale Computing Facilities] Odaily Planet Daily News: The AI boom has caused a surge in electricity demand from data centers across the United States, leading to rising electricity prices in many regions, with some areas even issuing power outage warnings. To alleviate the power supply crisis, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on the 18th requested regional grid operators to consider new agreements to accelerate the grid integration of large electricity consumers such as data centers. The commission also stated that future rule-making will no longer proactively consider environmental impacts under the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act. According to Data Center Map, there are currently over 4,000 operational data centers in the U.S., with many more in the planning or construction stages. However, the construction speed of these data centers far outpaces the commissioning of new power plants, coupled with slow grid integration progress. As a result, major tech giants across the U.S. are scrambling to secure power quotas for their data centers. Statistics from the Electric Power Research Institute show that data centers currently account for about 5% of total U.S. electricity demand, a figure that could rise to approximately 20% by 2035. (CCTV Finance)