PJM tells Maryland committee the grid is under strain, urges states to speed permitting and require data‑center reliability measures

Jason Stanek, executive director of PJM Interconnection, told the Environment and Transportation Committee on Feb. 5 that the regional grid was “under tremendous stress” during a cold snap and that “we're operating under emergency conditions.” Stanek said PJM hit roughly 140 gigawatts of demand that morning and that nearly every available plant that could produce electricity was running.

PJM, which operates the grid for 13 states and the District of Columbia, told lawmakers the operator has about 181 gigawatts of resources on its system in a perfect‑availability scenario but that retirements have outpaced new additions. Stanek said Maryland has retired about 6,000 megawatts of thermal generation while adding roughly 1,600 megawatts, a gap that contributes to resource adequacy concerns.

Why it matters: PJM spans 21% of U.S. GDP and routes power across state lines; shortfalls or stressed conditions in PJM’s footprint can raise prices and increase the risk of outages. Stanek urged lawmakers to weigh the reliability tradeoffs when considering policies that could accelerate retirements of existing generation before equivalent resources are online.

PJM described a six‑point policy package that state leaders and the federal government have discussed. The elements Stanek summarized include: requiring many data centers to bring their own generation when they develop; allowing curtailment of data centers during system stress if they do not bring local generation; conducting a PJM reliability backstop auction to procure capacity for data‑center loads; improving load forecasting (to reduce “phantom” or double‑counted demand); studying market incentives to encourage new supply; and maintaining the existing PJM capacity‑price cap of $333 per megawatt‑day for two additional years while the reforms are considered.

Stanek said PJM and stakeholders have worked to reform the interconnection queue after years of backlog: reforms developed around 2021 were approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and implemented in 2023, and PJM expects the backlog to be eliminated by April with a target turnaround of one to two years using new tools and third‑party support.

Stanek also urged state actions that can influence customer bills and reliability, including Public Service Commission (PSC) cost‑allocation decisions (which can shift charges between residential and commercial customers), requiring larger financial deposits from data centers to discourage speculative interconnection requests, and aligning default service procurement processes. He noted an open PJM comment period on the capacity price cap that was set to close the next day.

On permitting and transmission, Stanek said Maryland needs both transmission infrastructure and generation. He warned that long CPCN (certificate of public convenience and necessity) and siting reviews — while important for stakeholder input and environmental review — have contributed to delays. He singled out a transmission project (the Piedmont Reliability Project) that PJM urged be expedited to help avoid reliability risks if not placed in service by mid‑2027.

Stanek closed by urging lawmakers to “avoid policies that would push existing resources off the system until an adequate and equivalent amount of generation is online to support it,” and offered PJM as a resource to the General Assembly on technical and planning questions.

The committee scheduled follow‑up briefings and set aside time for questions during the session; no formal votes or binding actions were taken during this briefing portion.