Regional grid monitors and PJM warn of growing reliability risks as generation retires and demand rises

At a joint hearing of the Delaware Senate Environment, Energy & Transportation Committee and the House Natural Resources & Energy Committee, regional grid monitor Reliability First and the regional transmission organization PJM said the electric system faces growing resource adequacy risks as traditional generators retire and new load grows rapidly.

Diane Holder, vice president of entity engagement and corporate services at Reliability First, told legislators that “our lens is reliability, pure and simple,” and said the organization’s audits focus on operations, staffing, winterization plans and cyber/physical security for entities that interact with the bulk-power system. Holder flagged a recent NERC long‑term reliability assessment showing more than half the continent at high or elevated risk of shortfalls over the next 10 years and said PJM now sits at an elevated risk level after previously being judged low risk.

Why it matters: Holder said the system is losing conventional, around‑the‑clock generation faster than variable resources (solar, wind, batteries) are being added. Using an illustrative example, she said replacing a 100‑megawatt baseload generator with solar and storage could require many times the nameplate megawatts because solar and wind operate by time of day and weather. “You do need substantially more megawatts of solar, wind, and battery capacity to deliver that same amount of energy,” she said.

PJM senior vice president Asim Haque told lawmakers the region’s demand forecast has spiked in the past year, driven in part by data center proliferation and electrification. Haque described PJM as the largest grid operator in North America, noting it serves roughly 65 million consumers and coordinates more than 88,000 miles of transmission. He said the operator is pursuing multiple reforms — including queue reform, new interconnection pathways and market changes — but stressed that many projects in PJM’s queue are not yet under construction because of permitting, supply chain and financing constraints.

Lawmakers pressed presenters on recent plant retirements and emergency reliability contracts. Holder and other presenters discussed Indian River Power Plant’s retirement (about 410 megawatts) and the role of Reliability‑Must‑Run (RMR) arrangements: Holder said developers and utilities reported RMR costs on customers’ bills, and that Delmarva Power customers faced a roughly $5.8 million monthly RMR charge while another customer class faced roughly $460,000 per month during an RMR period.

Capacity costs and market signals: Legislators noted that PJM’s recent capacity auction cleared at a much higher dollar amount than prior auctions; a lawmaker cited a rise from about $2.2 billion to roughly $14.7 billion. PJM staff cautioned that how much of a capacity‑market change flows to retail bills depends on state retail procurement and hedging practices and on whether retail customers purchase generation through competitive suppliers or default service contracts.

What presenters recommended: Reliability First emphasized communication, coordination and collaboration among federal, regional and state stakeholders. PJM described three near‑term reforms (including the reliability resource initiative, surplus interconnection service and capacity interconnection rights transfer) intended to speed the delivery of ready resources and to allow transfers of capacity rights from retiring units to new projects.

Going forward: Presenters asked state policymakers to consider timing, resource diversity and the tradeoffs among reliability, cost and environmental policy when shaping state energy decisions. PJM and Reliability First offered to provide additional data and follow‑up briefings to legislators and stakeholders.

Ending: Lawmakers said they will continue the conversation with PJM, Reliability First and state energy staff to assess policy options and to identify measures that could accelerate reliable supply additions while accounting for cost and environmental goals.