PJM Interconnection, the regional grid operator with the widest coverage in the United States, is seeking capacity expansion at an unprecedented speed, driven by the explosive growth of artificial intelligence data centers creating extraordinary pressure on electricity demand.
Reports indicate that PJM has launched an emergency proposal aiming to add 15 gigawatts of power supply in the short term. The plan will pair proposed data centers with new power plants through a bilateral negotiation mechanism.
PJM plans to begin soliciting feedback from developers and generators later next week, with the formal pairing process set to launch in September 2026 and run through March 2027. PJM characterizes this move as a targeted response to potential power shortages triggered by the surge in AI demand.
This emergency action reflects the grim reality of the current U.S. power market: AI data center demand continues to exceed prior forecasts. In Virginia, Pennsylvania, and surrounding regions, the growth rate of electricity consumption for hyperscale computing facilities far outpaces the rate of new generation additions. Spot electricity prices have breached a historic high of $1,000 per megawatt-hour, and PJM projects a potential power deficit of up to 60 gigawatts over the next decade.
<h2>AI-Driven Demand Surge Pushes Grid to the Limit</h2>
The core mechanism of PJM's proposed 15-gigawatt addition is to directly pair data center projects with new power plants via bilateral negotiations, bypassing the standard centralized electricity market bidding process to accelerate supply-demand matching efficiency.
According to the schedule, PJM will initiate developer interest assessments by the end of next weekend. The formal pairing process covers the period from September 2026 to March 2027. A target capacity of 15 gigawatts is equivalent to the total installed capacity of more than a dozen large-scale nuclear or gas-fired power plants. Achieving this incremental target in the short term places high demands on developers' capital investment and engineering execution capabilities. Whether substantive commitments can be secured from developers remains uncertain.
PJM covers 13 states and serves over 65 million people, making it the largest regional grid in the United States. As hyperscale technology companies intensively build data centers within its coverage area, the load growth on this grid has significantly deviated from early forecasts.
Data centers have become the dominant force reshaping regional power markets. In recent capacity auctions, electricity demand from data centers significantly drove up capacity costs and forced grid operators into reactive emergency measures during winter peak usage periods. Spot prices breaking the $1,000 per megawatt-hour record directly reflect the sharpness of the supply-demand contradiction. PJM estimates that a power supply gap of approximately 60 gigawatts will occur within its coverage area over the next decade.
<h2>Nuclear Power Delays Create Contradiction with Emergency Expansion</h2>
The timing of this emergency proposal creates obvious tension with another recent decision by PJM. Just weeks ago, PJM informed Constellation Energy that due to delays in transmission project construction, the full grid integration of the restarted Crane Clean Energy Center (Unit 1 of the former Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant) might be delayed until 2031, a full four years later than Constellation's original target of late 2027. This nuclear facility, with an installed capacity of approximately 800 megawatts, is already near operational readiness. Constellation is currently seeking a special exemption from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to expedite the grid integration process.
Analysts suggest that the 15-gigawatt expansion target faces considerable uncertainty both in scale and timeline. Large-scale generation projects typically require several years from initiation to grid connection. PJM's attempt to compress the process through a bilateral pairing mechanism remains to be tested in practice.
For market participants, the issuance of this proposal implies that the competitive landscape of the future regional power capacity market may accelerate its reshaping, potentially speeding up long-term power purchase agreement negotiations between data center developers and generators. However, before developers make substantive commitments, the 15-gigawatt target largely reflects an urgent policy intent rather than a locked-in increase in supply.

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PJM, the nation's largest grid operator, is seeking an emergency addition of 15 gigawatts of power supply. By accelerating data center and power plant matching through a bilateral pairing mechanism, it aims to alleviate electricity pressure caused by the AI boom. Currently, the region faces a massive power shortage with spot prices frequently hitting record highs. However, due to structural bottlenecks such as lagging transmission construction and delayed nuclear power grid integration, the implementation of this large-scale generation expansion plan still faces severe challenges

- PJM Interconnection is urgently seeking to expand its power supply by 15 gigawatts in response to unprecedented demand from rapidly growing AI data centers.  
- This initiative involves pairing new data center projects with power plants through bilateral negotiations, bypassing traditional market processes and aiming to address the electric supply shortfall expected to reach 60 gigawatts in the next decade.  
- The situation is complicated by delays in nuclear power integration, raising uncertainties about achieving the ambitious expansion target within the proposed timeline.

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PJM, the Largest U.S. Grid, Issues 'Emergency Proposal': Plans to Add 15 GW of Power Amid AI Data Center Surge