PJM responds to Pennsylvania governor’s complaint about energy market rules From Reuters

(Reuters) – Grid operator PJM Interconnection responded on Tuesday to a complaint by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro over power market rules, citing concerns about potential power outages due to the rapid expansion of data centers.

Shapiro had filed a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday, arguing that the largest operator of the US electricity grid needs to change its market rules to avoid a potential increase in the costs of electricity.

“We have warned for more than two years of the prospect that parts of our country could lack power during periods of high demand,” PJM said in a statement.

“This possibility has increased, primarily due to state and federal policy decisions that push generators to retire prematurely, as well as due to unprecedented and rapidly growing data center construction,” the grid operator added. .

The company sought permission from federal regulators to lower the market price and proposed a faster integration of new generation projects to mitigate problems such as power shortages during periods of high demand.

PJM, which serves nearly 65 million people in the United States, has faced increased public scrutiny since July when it said its annual capacity auction would lead to record payments to power plants on its system.