In a method for managing power consumption among compute nodes having respective power components, an increase in the power utilization of a first compute node of the compute nodes may be detected. In response to a detected increase, a sum of the power consumption levels of the compute nodes and the requested increase in power utilization of the first compute node is compared with an allowable power budget for a compute node pool. In addition, the power state of the first compute node power component is varied in response to the comparison.