As the demand for power keeps rising with the rapid development of AI data centers, natural gas is increasingly being seen as the leading source of fuel for electric generation. A recent report from Global Energy Monitor , an organization that develops and analyzes data on energy infrastructure and uses with the goal of building a sustainable energy future, found that the U.S. now has the most gas-fired power capacity being developed and accounts for nearly one-quarter of the

After pressure from federal and state officials, regional electric grid operator PJM Interconnection has agreed to extend its price cap on some wholesale energy costs for an additional two years. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro recently announced  the extension of the cap on the maximum price PJM will pay for guaranteed electricity during its twice-yearly capacity auctions. The cap was first put in place in 2024. “This is going to save 67 million Americans $27 billion on their

Electricity rates across the PJM regional grid have risen sharply over the past eight years, and Pennsylvania customers have seen the biggest increase, a recent report found. The research brief by the state Independent Fiscal Office  (IFO) determined that average prices for Pennsylvania residents increased by 46.1% between 2018 and 2025, compared to 40.1% for Ohio, 39.1% for Virginia and 41% for all other Mid-Atlantic states in the PJM region. Pennsylvania’s average electrici

Energy is a main focus in Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s fiscal 2026-27 budget proposal, as he continues to push to keep electric rates down for residential customers while also encouraging economic development. Part of his $53.2 billion budget proposal  addresses the development of data centers in the state, which have become an increasing concern to communities and the primary source of surging electric demand. That has sent costs across the PJM regional electric  grid up

The Mid-Atlantic power grid operated by PJM Interconnection withstood the recent winter storm that brought heavy snow and arctic temperatures to the area, but not without concerns and precautionary measures. Winter Storm Fern hit much of the East  with a prolonged period of extremely cold temperatures, raising concerns about whether the PJM grid that serves 13 Mid-Atlantic states, including Pennsylvania, would exceed its all-time winter peak hourly demand of 143,700 megawatts

Energy demand forecasts will struggle to keep up with the development of hyperscale data centers in the coming years, a new report from a leading data analysis and consulting company indicates. The 2026 U.S. Data Centers and Energy Report , compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence, indicates that a spike in demand for electricity that has been roiling the energy markets for several years will continue to accelerate. The report projects that power demand from data centers in

The rising demand and cost for energy has put the issue at the forefront of policy discussions at both the federal and state levels. Regional electric grid operator PJM Interconnection has been struggling to streamline and update  its regulations to be able to quickly connect new power generation project to the grid at the same time it is seeing a rapid increase in electric demand from data center operators and other large-load customers. This has led to a supply-demand imbal

Governors of states in the PJM Interconnection regional footprint recently reached a statement of principles with federal officials  at the White House on a plan to speed up construction of new power generation projects to meet rising data center demand while ensuring that the costs are paid by developers and not consumers. Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro was one of the bipartisan group  that met to sign the statement urging PJM to quickly take several actions, including keeping a pric

Another Pennsylvania nuclear plant has reached an agreement to supply power to a large AI data center developer as the race among big tech companies race to secure enough electricity for their projects. Meta recently announced  a series of agreements up to 6.6 gigawatts of for nuclear power by 2035. One of them with Vistra , which operates the Beaver Valley nuclear plant in Beaver County and two others in Ohio. The 20-year power purchase agreement is for 2,176 megawatts (MW)

As Mid-Atlantic regional electric grid operator PJM Interconnection continues to struggle to develop rules for how data centers co-located with power plants should be connected to the grid, federal regulators have stepped in to provide direction. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently issued an order to PJM  to quickly develop the rules, and also provided several new pathways that data center operators and other large load customers can take when seeking to connect

The independent market monitor for PJM has filed a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asking it to require the regional grid operator to add large data centers only when they can reliably be served. Monitoring Analytics  claims in the complaint “that PJM is currently proposing to allow the interconnection of large new data loads that it cannot serve reliably and that will require load curtailments (black outs) of the data centers or of other customers a

While all areas of the U.S. are expected to have adequate power supplies this winter under normal conditions, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) warned that several regions could face shortfall risks and blackouts during more extreme weather events. NERC, which oversees the security and reliability of the nation’s electric grid, recently released its annual winter reliability assessment . The report said that two trends affecting the electric supply are risi

PJM, the regional electric grid operator for 13 Mid-Atlantic states, says it will have enough power capacity to serve its 67 million customers this winter, but continues to warn that demand for electricity is rising faster than new generation is being added. Power consumption rises during the winter months due to heating needs, and extreme weather can also cause generation outages. This winter PJM expects to have  180,800 megawatts (MW) of capacity and is forecasting peak ele

As regional electric grid operator PJM and state regulators continue to grapple with questions about how to quickly add more power generation to serve rapidly increasing demand from AI data center operators without increasing existing customers’ bills, several new proposals are being floated. A proposal was recently submitted to PJM by the governors  of Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia, developed in conjunction with the Data Center Coalition, that would give p

Western Pennsylvania’s energy resources are coming to the forefront as shifting federal priorities and rapidly increasing demand for AI and data centers converge, speakers at the Oct. 21 PA Energy Ecosystem Conference  emphasized. The conference , hosted by the Washington & Jefferson College Center for Energy Policy and Management, brought together leaders in energy, policy, and industry for a daylong discussion of the rising need for energy and how this region’s natural gas

Electric customers in seven PJM states, including Pennsylvania, paid more than $4.3 billion in data center transmission costs in 2024, a new report found. The report from the Union of Concerned Scientists  said that the costs, for local transmission upgrades made to provide transmission service directly to data centers, have contributed to rising electric bills due to a “loophole” in the current regulatory structure. The Union of Concerned Scientists  is an advocacy group tha

Growth in data centers and cryptocurrency mining through 2030 could mean higher electric generation costs, as well as a spike in power...

More than half of the new electric generating capacity expected to added to the electric grid this year will be solar, a recent U.S....

The regional electric grid operator is fast-tracking development of a plan to standardize how new data centers and other large-load...

Pennsylvania electric customers experienced a sharp increase in the number of “reportable outage events” in 2024, a recently released...