Jul 29, 2026 | Posted by Abdul-Rahman Oladimeji
PJM Interconnection, the largest US grid operator, has filed plans with FERC to secure additional power and manage rising data centre demand. One proposal would create a reliability backstop procurement process to match available supply with unmet data centre power needs. The process is expected to run from September 30 to October 21, with results published in December.
PJM said the plan is needed to address the growing gap between data centre demand and available power resources. The grid operator expects large-load demand to reach 70GW by 2038. In its latest capacity auction, PJM hit the $325/MW-day price cap and fell about 6.8GW short of its reliability target, raising concerns over future grid stability.
PJM’s second proposal would create a registry to track data centres and other large loads, including their locations and energy use. The operator also suggested temporarily cutting power to data centres without on-site generation during extreme grid stress, subject to state approval. The move follows a recent incident where more than 3GW of data centre load disconnected from the grid, causing a network-wide voltage disturbance.
