[user5994461]

Having worked in a factory before, I can tell you that the factory was calling the electricity company before shutting down or turning on the factory. It is consuming a noticeable chunks out of what the whole surrounding city is consuming.

Given how much electricity a datacenter consumes. Google surely must have a direct support contact within the electricity provider and they better start working both ways, if they don't already.

Quick math. A datacenter is 60 000 servers, so 6 MW consumption at 100 W per server (moderate load). That is 1% of the peak output of a nuclear reactor. You bet the electric company wants to know when they need to adjust their reactors.

[saagarjha]

And reactors aren’t generally easy or desirable to adjust.