Protecting AI leadership requires more than building data centers. It also depends on securing the power grid against space weather threats.

To win the artificial intelligence (AI) race—America is pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into data centers—facilities that demand pristine, “clean” electrical power for sensitive equipment. Yet an invisible threat from the sun can turn those massive investments into costly liabilities for the United States and hand China the upper hand in this global competition.

The threat is insidious and potentially inevitable. Solar storms hurl charged particles at Earth, disturbing our planet’s magnetic field and inducing powerful currents in the Earth’s crust. These “ground-induced currents” (GICs) travel the path of least resistance and find that path through the ground-connected neutrals of high-voltage transformers, flowing into the electric grid like water into a pipe. 

These GICs induce harmonics in our power grid, hitting hardest precisely where the voltage steps down to power data centers. China has already begun deploying clones of American-designed technology to block GICs, while the United States has not—an asymmetry that potentially hands Beijing a decisive edge in the AI race.

Harmonic Distortion Explained

GICs are quasi-DC currents. Our transformers are designed for smooth 60-cycle alternating current (AC). When GICs enter transformers, they cause them to “half-cycle saturate,” where they behave erratically and become active threats to the rest of the grid. GIC-saturated transformers consume reactive power (the “muscle” that stabilizes voltage) and generate destructive harmonics—unwanted frequencies that ride atop the clean waveform like noise in a signal. The greater the GICs, the greater the harmonics—which then amplify at lower voltages precisely where data centers operate. 

In live-grid testing by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and Idaho National Laboratory in 2012, modest GIC in the neutral (just 15 amps) induced harmonics that exceeded the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard for Total Harmonic Distortion. As the lab increased the DC, the harmonics escalated dramatically downstream: ~1 percent on the high-voltage side enhanced to 32 percent on the lower voltage side serving end-users. Scott McBride of Idaho National Laboratory later summarized the warning: GIC harmonic distortion worsens exactly where sensitive loads like data centers reside.

Harmonic Distortion Experience

The geoelectric field strength of a solar event—measured in “volts per kilometer” (V/km)—determines GIC magnitude. The 1989 “Hydro Quebec” solar storm (roughly 2 V/km) drove moderate GIC that saturated transformers—generating harmonics that enhanced as they traveled into lower-voltage distribution, collapsing the grid in 92 seconds, and leaving six million people without power. 

Earlier solar events, like the “1921 Railroad Storm,” produced geoelectric fields that exceeded 20 V/km in places.  The 1859 “Carrington Event” was far larger, with space weather scientists estimating it at 30-40 V/km. Both occurred before America built its interconnected electric grid.

In 2006, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched its “STEREO-A” satellite to better understand space weather.  Six years later, in July 2012, a massive solar storm burst through Earth’s orbit directly in the path of this satellite, which measured its effects. NASA concluded the storm “was in all respects at least as strong as the 1859 Carrington.” It missed Earth by just nine days. 

It’s not just big solar storms that cause damage. Low-level GICs entering large power transformers from routine solar weather generate harmonics that propagate and amplify as they travel into lower voltage, which independent experts and insurers estimate cost the US economy ~$10 billion annually in equipment damage and disruptions.

America’s Private Sector Has a Solution for GICs

An American company, EMPRIMUS—working in conjunction with the electric industry—developed the patented SolidGroundneutral blocking device—a proven, standardized, automatic grid stability and harmonics mitigation system that blocks GIC before it enters the grid—while maintaining AC grounding. 

This mitigation is critical not only to protect large power transformers—but to protect the rest of the power grid from them. The technology has been installed and has been continuously operating on the US grid for over 10 years, successfully triggering during many solar events. It has been validated and deployed by the US government and utilities including the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), and ATC. At least one foreign ally of the United States is deploying SolidGround. 

China is deploying counterfeited clones of this American technology—installing “capacitor DC blocking devices” on transformers (220 kV and above), including those serving AI data centers. Papers from Chinese engineers detail schematics mirroring SolidGround—specifically a resistor in series with capacitors—to suppress DC bias, harmonics, and related damage.

America’s Electric Industry and Data Centers Are Still at Risk

Just weeks after the 1989 Hydro-Quebec blackout, the Northeast Power Coordinating Council (NPCC) approved “Document C-15,” which explicitly details the greatest GIC impact on power systems—harmonics. But America’s response has lagged due to an artificially low North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) GIC protection standard, which ignores harmonics and sets benchmarks as low as 0.8 V/km in many US areas—far below historically observed events and below the 30-40 V/km recommendation of NERC’s own contracted space weather scientists. 

Instead, utilities have relied on operating procedures that cannot block GIC from entering an energized grid. In larger GIC events, these procedures focused on voltage support to keep the grid running—serve only to prolong exposure to more severe GIC and harmonics, putting critical grid equipment at greater risk of catastrophic damage.

Protecting America’s AI Investments, and Her Population

Forbes estimates the 2026 US private-sector capital investment in AI to be roughly $650-$800 billion, with the potential to climb over $1 trillion in 2027. 

So, how much does America need to spend to keep GICs from liquidating these investments? The answer—according to independent analysis from ABB, Idaho National Laboratory, and the Foundation for Resilient Societies—is an estimated one-time expense of $4 billion, enabling deployment of SolidGround on the nation’s roughly 6,000 highest-risk transformers.

In March 2026, the Center for Security Policy lodged a complaint with FERC, seeking cost recovery for utilities to protect their infrastructure from the GIC threat. The complaint, which met no opposition from the utility industry, still remains under review by FERC.

What’s required is leadership—from the US federal government. Face the GIC harmonic threat, commit the $4 billion to fix it, and do it before the next major solar storm hits. 

Otherwise, China stands ready for an unearned victory.

About the Author: Tommy Waller

Lt. Col. Tommy Waller is the president & CEO of the nonprofit Center for Security Policy. Waller retired from the US Marines after two decades of service in both active duty and the reserves as an Infantry and Expeditionary Ground Reconnaissance Officer with deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa, and South America and with cross-assigned service to the US Air Force’s Electromagnetic Defense Task Force (EDTF). His formal education includes numerous military schools and colleges, a BA in International Relations from Tulane University, and executive education from the Wharton School. In addition to running the Center for Security Policy, he also manages the nationwide bipartisan Secure the Grid Coalition.

Author Note: Neither the Center for Security Policy nor the Secure the Grid Coalition receives funding from government, foreign sources, or industries that can profit from their policy recommendations.

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