(NYT) – The tech giant is funding one of the nation’s largest “virtual power plants,” which would pay homes and businesses to adjust their energy use when grids are strained.

Tech companies are struggling to find enough electricity for all the new data centers they need for artificial intelligence, and lately they’ve explored ideas such as restarting old nuclear plants and stringing together off-grid gas engines.

Now Google is trying a different approach: paying, at least indirectly, for homes and businesses to use less electricity at times to help free up power for data centers.

On Thursday, Google announced a deal with a company called Voltus to set up what’s known as a “virtual power plant” in the large Mid-Atlantic grid known as PJM (Read More)