PJM seeks 15 GW for AI datacentres
U.S. grid operator PJM is soliciting roughly 15 gigawatts of new power capacity to support anticipated AI data‑centre growth. The request reflects rising electricity planning needs as large compute deployments demand dedicated grid resources. (x.com)
PJM Interconnection is seeking about 15 gigawatts of new power supplies to connect a wave of artificial-intelligence data centers across its grid. (bloomberg.com) The grid operator said it would pair proposed data centers with new power plants in a process scheduled to run from September 2026 through March 2027. PJM’s board had already ordered an immediate “reliability backstop” procurement on January 16, 2026. (bloomberg.com) (utilitydive.com) PJM runs the high-voltage grid and wholesale power market across all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia, serving more than 67 million people. The board said in January that new data centers and other large loads had to be integrated without undermining reliability or affordability. (pjm.com) (insidelines.pjm.com) A data center is a warehouse of servers, and artificial-intelligence systems use far more electricity than older web workloads because they run dense clusters of chips around the clock. PJM said its 2025 long-term forecast pointed to unprecedented demand growth driven primarily by data centers in its territory. (insidelines.pjm.com) That forecast said PJM’s summer peak load could rise by about 70 gigawatts to 220 gigawatts over 15 years. PJM also said electricity demand from data-center growth alone could increase by as much as about 30 gigawatts between 2025 and 2030. (insidelines.pjm.com) The backstop plan followed a tight capacity market. Utility Dive reported PJM’s last auction missed its reliability target by about 6.6 gigawatts, and Bloomberg reported PJM is already bracing for a multi-gigawatt supply shortage in summer 2027. (utilitydive.com) (bloomberg.com) PJM’s January package also created a faster path for large loads that bring their own new generation and a framework to curtail loads that do not. PJM defines a large load in this context as 50 megawatts or more at a single interconnection point. (insidelines.pjm.com) (utilitydive.com) State officials and consumer advocates have pushed PJM to keep new data-center demand from spilling into household bills. PJM’s board said in January that any market changes had to balance transparent price signals with protection for consumers. (utilitydive.com) (insidelines.pjm.com) The immediate question is whether PJM can line up enough new generation before the next crunch hits. The operator has now moved from forecasting the data-center surge to trying to buy the power to serve it. (bloomberg.com) (insidelines.pjm.com)
