PJM Interconnection
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Trends
Google, I&M Strike Landmark Deal to Share Clean Capacity and Flex AI Load
American Electric Power (AEP) subsidiary Indiana Michigan Power (I&M) has filed a special customer-specific contract with technology giant Google that could create a dual-purpose arrangement to address power capacity constraints in one of the fastest-growing digital infrastructure regions in the U.S. AEP on Aug. 4 announced that the two companies filed a petition to the […]
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Energy Security
DOE’s Fifth Emergency Order—for PJM—Caps Summer of Escalating Grid Risk
The Department of Energy (DOE) has issued its fifth 202(c) emergency order this year, directing PJM Interconnection to override environmental limits and dispatch an oil-fired power generating unit in Maryland strictly as needed to avert possible blackouts in the Baltimore region. The July 28 order, issued under Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, authorizes […]
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Gas
Private Equity Firm Moves to Secure Ohio Gas Power Plant as Demand for Firm Power Rallies
Private equity firm ArcLight Capital Partners has entered into definitive agreements to acquire 100% of the economic interests in the 484-MW Middletown Energy Center, a combined cycle natural gas power plant in Butler County, Ohio. The firm said on July 10 that the acquisition—structured through a series of transactions with a consortium of sellers—adds a […]
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Data Centers
Talen, Amazon Launch $18B Nuclear PPA—A Grid-Connected IPP Model for the Data Center Era
Talen Energy has restructured and significantly expanded its nuclear energy agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS), finalizing a 17-year, $18 billion power purchase agreement (PPA) that will supply up to 1,920 MW of carbon-free electricity from the 2.5-GW Susquehanna nuclear plant to Amazon’s data centers across Pennsylvania. The deal, announced on June 11, restructures a […]
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Power
Trump Administration Issues Third Emergency Order to Prevent PJM Power Shortfall
The Department of Energy (DOE) has issued its third Section 202(c) emergency order in the past two weeks, this time to bolster reliability in PJM Interconnection by compelling Constellation Energy to keep Units 3 and 4 of its dual-fuel Eddystone Generating Station in Pennsylvania open beyond their scheduled retirement date of May 31, 2025. The […]
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Commentary
The Erosion of Energy Affordability
Since 2024, America’s airwaves have been flooded with phrases like “nuclear renaissance” and “drill, baby, drill.” Energy affordability has occupied the minds of the president, state legislators, regulators, energy suppliers, and utility companies, as everyday Americans confront rising energy costs. States like California have seen an increase in electricity bills between 2021 and 2024 of […]
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News
NAES, Gecko Robotics Launch $100M AI Partnership Amid Energy Crisis; Shapiro Questions PJM Future
In a bid to stave off an escalating power crisis, NAES, one of the largest independent power plant operators in the U.S., and Gecko Robotics, a leader in AI-driven robotic inspection and predictive maintenance, have moved to champion a prominent role for the nation’s existing fleet, launching a $100 million strategic partnership to bolster their […]
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Data Centers
Constellation Races to Revive Crane Nuclear Plant Amid Tight Timelines, Market Shifts
Constellation Energy’s ambitious plan to restart the Three Mile Island Unit 1 as the Crane Clean Energy Center (CEC) is proceeding ahead of schedule, shooting for a 2028 start date, despite a new report that suggests Microsoft may be re-evaluating its data center strategy. Just five months after Constellation announced a landmark 20-year power purchase […]
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Data Centers
Vistra in Talks to Expand Power for Data Centers Through Nuclear, Gas Options
Vistra is pursuing deals with data center developers in Texas and the PJM region to address the industry’s energy needs at multiple sites, executives revealed during the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Nov. 7. The Texas-based competitive generator has entered discussions with some of the largest, unnamed data center operators to increase output at its […]
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Engineering
Jackson Generation Pioneers North America’s First M501JAC Gas Turbines
The Jackson Generation plant, a 1.2-GW combined cycle power plant in Elwood, Illinois, debuted North America’s first M501JAC gas turbines. Developed by J-POWER USA, the facility has emerged as a model for
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Energy Security
Historic Solar Storm Spurs PJM to Extend Geomagnetic Disturbance Warning
Grid operator PJM Interconnection has issued a geomagnetic disturbance (GMD) warning after observing “persistent geomagnetically induced current (GIC) at multiple stations” late on Friday. PJM initially issued a GMD warning on May 10 to generators and transmission operators that an ongoing severe solar storm could affect its system between 1:48 p.m. and 9 p.m. on […]
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Renewables
Interconnection Constraints Threaten Success of Clean Energy Projects
Power projects are filled with risk. One of the biggest risks today for clean energy developers involves interconnection constraints. And according to Sarp Ozkan, vice president of Commercial Product at
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Coal
EIA: U.S. Coal Stockpiles Lowest Since 1978
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently said it expected coal-fired power generation in 2021 to be 22% higher than in 2020, producing the first year-over-year increase in U.S. electricity generation from coal since 2014. That higher generation, though, has reduced inventories of coal at the nation’s power plants, with EIA on Dec. 7 reporting […]
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News
Report: Gas-Fired Generation Will Rise in Pennsylvania as Coal, Nuclear Decline
Power generation from natural gas is expected to rise in Pennsylvania over the next few years, according to the state Public Utility Commission’s (PUC’s) annual report on generation and transmission and distribution capacity released in late August. The PUC’s “Electric Power Outlook for Pennsylvania 2018-2023” report made public last week projects gas-fired power generation will […]
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News
Ohio Lawmakers Announce Plan to Subsidize Nuclear Plants
Ohio lawmakers on April 12 announced a plan to provide financial support to the state’s two nuclear power plants by adding a surcharge to customers’ electric bills. The bill’s supporters said it also would generate as much as $300 million annually for clean power generation in Ohio, though the measure calls for abolishing mandates for […]
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News
Gas Now Tops Coal in PJM, but Nuclear Still No. 1
A report from an independent market monitor for PJM Interconnection shows that natural gas-fired power generation topped coal-fired output in PJM in 2018, the first time that gas has topped coal in the history of the largest U.S. grid operator. The “2018 State of the Market” report from Monitoring Analytics LLC, which includes Volume 1 […]
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News
‘Technically Sophisticated’ Combined Cycle Plant Comes Online
The Lackawanna Energy Center in Pennsylvania entered commercial operation Jan. 15, with the $1.5 billion project heralded by its developer, Invenergy, as among the most “technically sophisticated” combined cycle natural gas-fired plants in operation. The 1,485-MW facility, in the borough of Jessup in Lackawanna County, was completed ahead of schedule and features three General Electric […]
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Connected Plant
Companies Will Collaborate on Blockchain Tool for U.S. Power Market
A subsidiary of grid operator PJM Interconnection has joined with a Switzerland-based group to build and evaluate a blockchain-based tool to help the U.S. power generation industry. Energy Web Foundation (EWF) and PJM Environmental Information Services (PJM-EIS) on October 25 said they would collaborate on developing and testing a reference implementation of EWF’s open-source Energy […]
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Coal
West Virginia Coal Plant Will Remain Open Until 2022
FirstEnergy on October 18 said its coal-fired Pleasants Power Station in West Virginia will stay open until June 2022, after earlier announcing the plant would close in January of next year. FirstEnergy spokeswoman Jennifer Young said, “Keeping Pleasants in operation … allows the plant to fulfill current capacity obligations and provides additional time for evaluation […]
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Commentary
What is ‘Resilience’, and Do We Need It?
U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry last year petitioned the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to craft policies to provide for “resilience” in the nation’s generation resource mix. He wrote
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Legal & Regulatory
PJM: Can the Big Dog Deal with State Interference?
The PJM Interconnection, the largest regional transmission operator in the U.S., faces many problems: adapting to state policies designed to skew power markets in the face of natural gas and renewable