Energy & Grid Management
Molly Glick
Molly Glick
Energy Central Team
·Posted in Energy & Grid Management
Tue, Jul 28

NEWS: PJM is short on gigawatts…but not on ideas to secure them.

  • The roadmap: PJM’s last two capacity auctions each fell around 7 GW short. To plug that reliability gap, the grid operator’s board is directing staff to file the Reliability Backstop Procurement plan with FERC. If approved, this emergency auction would run from Sept. 30 to Oct. 21, with a cap of $555/MW-day (up from PJM’s previous auction limit of $325/MW-day).

  • Plus: In another remedy to the capacity shortage, PJM wants to order large loads lacking “sufficient capacity” to reduce consumption ahead of grid emergencies.

  • The forecast: Across PJM territory, large-load demand is projected to increase 70 GW by 2038. Meanwhile, around 15 GW of resources have retired since 2022. Now, the hope is that these proposed measures can get the grid out of its capacity crunch.

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