PJM Interconnection, the operator of the largest U.S. electric grid covering 13 mid-Atlantic and Midwest states, has issued a maximum generation alert and load management alert for July 16 due to expected high peak load demand.
The alert does not require any action from customers, but it is mostly to notify neighboring systems that electricity exports from PJM may be curtailed on Wednesday.
PJM expects a peak load of approximately 145,000 MW on July 16, the grid operator said.
PJM coordinates the movement of electricity through all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
The alert is not the first warning of U.S. grid operators this summer, as heat waves are boosting electricity demand for air conditioning.
The U.S. grids are in urgent need of modernization and upgrade to sustain rising power demand that’s coming mostly from data centers.
The North American Reliability Corporation has been warning of blackouts for two years now, citing extreme temperatures but also increased reliance on weather-dependent sources of electricity, notably wind and solar installations.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Energy warned that blackouts could increase substantially in the coming years unless more baseload capacity is added to the grid.
The department issued its warning in a report that said the premature retirement of generation capacity and the delay in replacing that capacity with new baseload facilities had created a mismatch between demand and supply. This mismatch has increased the risk of a potential twofold increase in blackouts by 2030.
“This report affirms what we already know: The United States cannot afford to continue down the unstable and dangerous path of energy subtraction previous leaders pursued, forcing the closure of baseload power sources like coal and natural gas,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said.
“In the coming years, America’s reindustrialization and the AI race will require a significantly larger supply of around-the-clock, reliable, and uninterrupted power,” Wright added, saying the Trump administration would ensure that supply by focusing on “all forms of energy that are affordable, reliable, and secure.”
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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