PJM Interconnection announced two planned federal filings, including what it calls a “reliability backstop procurement,” as the largest U.S. power grid confronts rapid growth in large-customer demand. The operator has proposed action. It has not yet filed, won approval, bought capacity or assigned the bill. [1]
Three days earlier, the paper examined a measured 3.49-gigawatt surplus after data centers disconnected without causing a blackout. That operating event exposed missing common rules for trip settings, reconnection, mitigation and costs. Tuesday supplies PJM's first later instrument, but only at announcement stage.
The proposed one-time procurement window would run from September 30 through October 21, with results expected in early December. [1] A schedule is useful because it creates dates against which to seek filings, bids and awards. It is not evidence that any generator is eligible, any offer will be accepted or any megawatt will be delivered.
PJM serves 13 states and the District of Columbia. Reuters reports about 70 gigawatts of new large-customer demand by 2038 and a recent capacity price near $325 per megawatt-day, after a second consecutive auction came in below the reliability requirement. [1] Those figures describe the pressure behind the proposal. They are not the amount of backstop capacity procured or a customer's charge.
The 70-gigawatt figure is a forecast through 2038, not load already connected to the grid. Projects can reach different operating stages on different schedules. The procurement must therefore disclose what demand qualifies, what evidence supports it and how PJM avoids buying today against capacity that may not arrive as forecast.
The missing tariff text matters because “emergency power auction” can conceal several choices. PJM must define triggers, eligible resources, bid quantities and prices, state preferences, operational authority and performance duties. Regulators must decide whether the instrument is lawful and how its costs are allocated. Data-center operators may or may not receive obligations of their own.
Until those terms exist, the payer has no address. A grid-wide procurement could place costs on large-load customers, utilities, a wider customer class or some combination, but the retained record authorizes none of those outcomes. The path to a household bill runs through filed language, approval, allocation and utility tariffs rather than the announcement alone.
The X search supplied a caution of its own. An index paired relevant backstop language with a PJM URL, but direct inspection showed that the post concerned a July 15 capacity auction. It is barred from x_posts. A topical snippet and a real status URL can still form a false piece of evidence when they refer to different events.
PJM must also remain separate from the Southwest Power Pool. DOE Order 202-26-37 belongs to SPP; it cannot be imported as authority, precedent or completed action for this proposal. Regional grids may face related demand problems without sharing instruments.
Reuters is right that PJM is moving ahead in the limited sense that it announced a route forward. [1] The accountable story begins with the filings and proceeds through approval, bids, awards, delivery, reliability effects and bills. Until then, the backstop is a plan with dates, not power with a payer.
-- THEO KAPLAN, San Francisco