PJM Reviews 800+ New Power Projects After Four-Year Pause
Regional grid manager PJM restarts project reviews after four-year pause, with applications ranging from gas plants to first-ever fusion facility seeking grid connection.
NORRISTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA — The regional electricity grid manager overseeing Pennsylvania and 12 other states announced it has received more than 800 applications for new power projects, marking the first time in four years the organization has reviewed such proposals.
PJM Interconnection, based in Montgomery County outside Philadelphia, restarted its project review process last week after pausing applications in 2022 due to an overwhelming backlog. The proposed projects range from natural gas-fired thermal power plants to renewable energy sources including wind, solar and battery storage facilities.
Historic Fusion Project Among Proposals
Among the applications is a groundbreaking fusion power plant planned for Virginia, representing the first time such a facility has sought approval to connect to PJM’s grid. The diverse mix of proposed projects reflects growing demand for electricity across the region.
The surge in applications comes as rising electricity demand, largely driven by data center development, has created affordability concerns for consumers. PJM officials said the new projects will move forward under “a redesigned approach focused on improving the certainty, speed and discipline of project review.”
Mixed Reactions From Energy Experts
Industry observers have expressed cautious optimism about the restart while noting potential drawbacks for sustainable energy development. “We’ve seen carnage with projects that we put on hold for so long that they’re very hard to get started again,” said Abe Silverman, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University’s Ralph O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute.
However, Todd Snitchler, president and CEO of the Electric Power Supply Association, praised the response from investors and developers. He said the strong interest demonstrates that PJM’s reforms successfully restored confidence in the project approval process.
Grid Modernization Efforts Continue
The project queue restart addresses what elected leaders across the country have identified as “the affordability problem” in electricity markets. Rising demand has collided with limited new supply sources, creating upward pressure on utility bills for consumers throughout PJM’s territory.
PJM’s service area encompasses Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Illinois, Indiana and the District of Columbia. The organization manages wholesale electricity supply for approximately 65 million people across these regions.
The grid manager had suspended its interconnection queue in 2022 as staff worked to address a massive backlog of applications that had overwhelmed the review process. The pause allowed PJM to redesign its evaluation procedures to handle the growing volume of project proposals more efficiently.
