(Reuters) – The largest U.S. power grid operator – PJM Interconnection – said on Wednesday that it will begin processing new power plant applications this week after working through a years-long backlog of projects.
PJM, which controls the flow of electricity on transmission lines across 13 Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states, is facing electricity shortfalls due to a recent surge in power demand from data centers that has outpaced the addition of new supply.
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The grid operator, serving about one in five Americans, began accepting new power plant applications to connect to the grid several months ago. Monday was the final day for submissions.
The grid received more than 800 new power generation project applications to connect to its grid under its newly reformed interconnection process, PJM said.
Of the project types, 349 were battery storage, 157 were natural gas-fired power plants, 142 were solar farms, and 65 were wind farms, PJM said. Some 45 were solar-storage hybrids and 45 projects included nuclear energy. Another 11 projects were hydropower, and the rest were filed under “other.”
“We are encouraged by the diversity of generation types that are seeking to join the PJM generation fleet,” said interim President and CEO David Mills. “This is good news because we need all the generation we can get.”
The new projects are capable of generating about 220 gigawatts of electricity.
After becoming overloaded with power generation projects seeking to connect to the grid, PJM effectively stopped reviewing new applicants in 2022 while it processed the backlog and underwent a series of reforms.
By the end of 2025, PJM had processed 170 gigawatts of projects, or enough to power roughly 130 million homes, according to an update released by the organization this month. About 31% of that was offered or had signed agreements to connect to the grid, PJM said.
Freezing that entry point to the grid in 2022 drew criticism from some politicians and energy trade groups, particularly those advocating for wind and solar energy, which made up the majority of projects applying to PJM.
“Reopening the queue is a welcome sign of progress, and our industry is eager to see whether PJM is able to study and connect new energy projects more quickly going forward,” said Jon Gordon, senior policy director at Advanced Energy United, which represents clean energy developers.
Reporting by Laila Kearney in New York; additional reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad Editing by Tomasz Janowski
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