WASHINGTON, July 2 (DC Times Online) — The Energy Department issued an emergency order under Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act for PJM Interconnection’s region after the grid operator warned June 29 of an “imminent electricity reliability emergency” as a heat wave pushed demand toward record levels across Washington, D.C., and the Mid-Atlantic.
PJM, which serves 67 million customers in 13 states and Washington, D.C., said it expected peak loads of 159,563 megawatts on July 1 and 162,860 megawatts on July 2. Reuters reported the operator also forecast summer demand of 166.3 gigawatts for Thursday evening, above its summer record of 165.6 gigawatts set in 2006.
The operator said it has about 180.2 gigawatts of generation capacity and another 8 gigawatts from demand-response programs that pay customers to reduce use during emergencies. Temperatures were forecast to top 100 degrees Fahrenheit from Boston to Washington, adding air-conditioning demand across PJM’s footprint.
PJM has said rising demand from data centers is adding pressure to the grid. In a May report, the operator said hyperscale facilities were adding load at an unprecedented pace and described a “fundamental mismatch between how fast demand is growing and how quickly new supply can be built and connected to the grid.”
PJM said in a June post that it used hot-weather alerts and demand response during the previous heat wave and cut load by more than 4,000 megawatts. Bloomberg reported last week that the operator also adopted a new capacity advisory to warn customers when supplies may tighten even without extreme temperatures.
