The company which controls the energy grid for Pennsylvania says it will not be easy supplying the power needs of residential homes, business, and industry over the next ten years, and it will come at a steep cost. PJM Interconnection runs the grid for thirteen states and the District of Columbia. In its announcement of the results of the latest energy auction, its incoming chief operating officer, Stu Bressler, said the prices paid leave “no doubt that data center’ demand for electricity continues to far outstrip new supply…”
PJM’s peak load forecast is about 5,250 megawatts higher than the previous capacity auction, and nearly 5,100 MW of that is due to data centers.
Pennsylvania provides about 25 percent of PJM’s power and is projected to provide about 80 percent of the new power generation to meet the increased demand. Governor Shapiro has sued PJM to force it to address the energy gap, but Senator Gene Yaw says it’s not PJM’s fault, but the misguided efforts of the Wolf and Shapiro administrations that have caused the premature closures of power plants without replacing them.
While the data centers will eat up massive amounts of electricity, the Homer City Redevelopment project not only allows for them, it will provide the capacity to power them, with the nation’s largest natural gas-fueled power plant.
Read PJM’s release on the latest energy auction, and its forecast for future energy demand:
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