As severe winter weather tests the resilience of power grids already strained by data center development, the two largest U.S. grid operators are poised to tap backup generators at data centers to avoid blackouts. The emergency orders come amid a cold snap that followed last weekend's winter storm, with 69 million people remaining under cold weather alerts in the U.S. as of Wednesday afternoon. Data center operators could run these generators for the duration required, without being limited by regulations concerning emissions, noise or any other normal constraints to their operation. PJM, whose 13-state footprint includes Northern Virginia and other major data center hubs, is already home to the country's highest concentration of data centers, and many more are on their way. Texas lawmakers signed landmark legislation in June that reformed regulations for new data centers connecting to ERCOT to preserve grid reliability.