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PJM, the largest power market in the US, is experiencing rapid load growth driven primarily by data centers.
PJM hosts the largest fleet of data centers in the world.
Bloomberg NEF modeling shows that expediting new power supply is the most effective lever for suppressing wholesale power prices in the PJM South and West regions.
In a simulated polar vortex event in 2035, demand flexibility from 50% of data centers could lower PJM power prices by approximately 20%.
The most recent PJM capacity auction for the 2027-2028 delivery year cleared at a record price of approximately $333 per megawatt-day.
PJM has implemented a price cap on its capacity market for the next two years, signaling an expectation of continued high prices.
The PJM capacity auction for the 2027-2028 delivery year would have cleared at over $500 per megawatt-day if a price cap had not been in place.
The surge in electricity demand in the PJM market is pushing capacity prices to record highs.
The majority of data center-driven load growth within the PJM market is concentrated in the PJM South region.
Monitoring Analytics, the internal market monitor for PJM, has advocated for a "bring your own generation" policy for large new loads like data centers.
The Data Center Coalition has proposed that any load curtailment for data centers during grid stress events should be voluntary rather than mandatory.
PJM's proposed "Critical Issue Fast Path" process is an expedited interconnection track designed to bring new generation supply online more quickly.