The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved two key orders Tuesday night aimed at expediting power plant connections across the 13-state regional grid PJM Interconnection amid concern over meeting rising electricity demand.
The orders green-light revisions to PJM’s Surplus Interconnection Service rules and its contentious Reliability Resource Initiative (RRI), which would fast-track some power plants through the long grid connection process. It has been criticized by green energy developers and environmental advocates as unjustly favorable to natural gas power plants.
The decisions are expected to help mitigate potential power shortages in the coming years. The power-sharing grid stretching from Chicago to mid-Atlantic states is grappling with growing electricity consumption, largely driven by the expansion of energy-intensive data centers. PJM is expected to see a roughly 3 percent annual growth in electricity demand over the next five years, up from less than 1 percent in 2022.
“We believe that the Commission must confront the real and consequential harm that failing to act could have on consumers in the PJM region,” Commissioners Willie Phillips and David Rosner, both Democrats, wrote in a concurrence granting the RRI changes. Republican Chair Mark Christie supported the order, Republican Lindsay See did not participate, and Democrat Judy Chang dissented.
