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FERC warns of rapid loss of dispatchable generation; chairman flags two‑year supply risk in PJM
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Summary
FERC’s chairman said multiple reports indicate the U.S. grid is losing dispatchable resources — gas, nuclear and coal — faster than they are being replaced, and cited PJM’s warning of potential supply shortages in roughly two years if trends continue.
FERC’s chairman told reporters the commission and independent monitors see a concerning pace of retirements among dispatchable generating resources and warned that supply margins could tighten in as little as two years in some regions.
Asked about administration directives to preserve coal, the chairman said FERC had received no specific instruction and that the commission would not itself initiate actions to mandate coal plants. Instead, he emphasized reports from PJM’s Independent Market Monitor and NERC showing shrinking dispatchable capacity and said that for markets such as PJM and MISO the pace of retirements is “unsustainable.”
The chairman cited PJM’s recent winter peak generation mix to illustrate the point — roughly 44% gas, 22% nuclear and 22% coal on the peak day he referenced — and said that maintaining adequate dispatchable capacity is essential to reliability. He added that state regulators retain authority over permitting or restarting individual generating units and that FERC’s role is reliability oversight under Section 215 of the Federal Power Act.
Reporters asked whether retired coal or nuclear plants could be restarted under DOE authorities; the chairman reiterated that permitting and restart decisions fall to state regulators and that FERC does not permit individual generators. He said FERC will continue to issue reliability reports and work with NERC and RTOs to monitor supply adequacy.
