(The Center Square) – The supply and demand imbalance across the power grid spells trouble for the future.

The acceleration of fossil fuel plant retirements, coupled with long construction timelines for cleaner alternatives, means Pennsylvania needs to find a way to bridge the gap amid a projected 20 percent rise in energy demand over the next four years.

For Gov. Josh Shapiro, that means considering anything and everything to solve the problem – like leaving PJM, the regional transmission organization that manages the power grid for 65 million people east of the Mississippi.

The step would be unprecedented. PJM traces its history to 1927, when utility companies in Pennsylvania and New Jersey banded together in a first-of-its-kind power pool. Over the intervening 100 years, the organization grew its footprint across thirteen states in the mid-Atlantic and Midwest, becoming the largest power grid operator in the country.

Pennsylvania is the “P” in PJM, at least for now, and its where 25 percent of the power necessary to run the grid is generated. 

“It has proven, over the last number of years, too darn hard to get enough new generation projects off the ground because of how slow PJM’s queue is,” Shapiro said Thursday. “So we are exploring all options here in Pennsylvania, including removing ourselves from PJM, going it alone, and determining if that is a better course for both consumer pricing and power generation in our commonwealth.”

The governor’s comments come after he filed a complaint with federal regulators to compel PJM to adjust the math used in its power pricing auctions and speed up the approval of new energy projects.

Without the action, the cost to run the power grid would have climbed 800 percent as of June 1, meaning utility bills will skyrocket by roughly 30 percent, according to multiple estimates. Democratic governors in four other states in the power grid’s territory, as well as consumer protection organizations, backed the complaint. Last month, PJM agreed to submit a price cap adjustment that would lower the cost from $500 per megawatt day to $325.

The small victory for Shapiro is short-lived, however, unless the generation gap is solved. On Thursday, the governor joined Gecko Robotics and NAES, the nation’s largest independent power operator, to announce a new partnership that will use artificial intelligence and robots to monitor and defend existing generation facilities, while attracting younger workers to the field.

“We need more generation and the incredibly important work that’s happening at Gecko, and as a result of this partnership … is really critical to deal with this time period that it takes to produce more energy to get more generation out there,” Shapiro said. “But it is not the only answer.”

In a statement to The Center Square, PJM spokesman Jeff Shields said that the organization has managed generation transitions in the commonwealth for decades, including the switch from coal to natural gas over the last 20 years.

And, thanks to its updated interconnection process — the queue referenced by Shapiro — projects totaling more than 200,000 megawatts will have service requests complete by the end of 2026.

“PJM’s reformed process, broadly supported by the industry, developers and PJM states and approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, is working,” he said, noting that more than 50,000 megawatts of generation isn’t operational yet “due to a number of obstacles, including state and local permitting.”

“We stand ready to work with Gov. Shapiro and all our states to clear these hurdles while we continue to implement our reforms and look for further opportunities to streamline the interconnection process,” Shields said.

Christen Smith is Pennsylvania editor for The Center Square newswire service and co-host of Pennsylvania in Focus, a weekly podcast on America’s Talking Network. Recognized by Editor and Publisher Magazine as one of the media industry’s “Top 25 Under 35” in 2024.

This article was republished with permission from The Center Square.