In December, PJM, the regional electrical grid operator that covers all or part of many Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states, proposed a new plan which would undermine clean energy projects and prompt new investment in dirty fossil fuel infrastructure. On February 11th, the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission (FERC) approved the initiative.
Background
In July 2024, PJM announced a significant increase in the payments it has to make to power plants to ensure a reliable supply of power—costs that will be passed onto 65 million people through their electric bills starting in June 2025. PJM claims the bill increase is caused by not having enough power supply available to meet increasing demand for power. But one of the biggest reasons for an impending supply/demand imbalance is that PJM has been holding back hundreds of gigawatts of wind and solar projects that are ready to meet that demand.
The initiative is biased towards fossil fuels, hurts clean energy, and doesn’t solve the problem
The fossil fuel and utility companies that benefit from PJM’s broken system are using this price spike as an excuse to allow new, polluting gas plants to skip the line. Instead of focusing on the clean energy projects that have been waiting years for PJM approval, this initiative would allow 50 projects to jump the line and get approved first. The selection criteria for projects is biased towards large, fossil fuel power plants, and doesn’t ensure that the new power will even come on to the grid in time to lower costs or meet reliability concerns.
When a new power plant comes onto the grid, if the energy it generates would put strain on the grid, the power plant often has to pay for network upgrades. By letting these fossil fuel projects skip the line and take up open space on the grid, the renewable projects left behind may be left on the hook for those upgrade costs, which for some of them could make them unable to open at all.
There is more than enough clean energy waiting in line to both bring costs down and keep the grid reliable. PJM needs to focus on bringing more reliable, clean energy onto its grid as soon as possible.
