Reuters: America’s largest power grid is struggling to meet demand from AI (July 8, 2025)
PJM Interconnection, America’s largest power grid, faces strain due to surging data center and AI chatbot power demands outpacing new plant construction, leading to projected electricity bill increases and internal turmoil.
New projects totaling about 46 gigawatts – enough capacity to power 40 million homes – have been cleared in recent years, “but are not getting built because of local opposition, supply chain backups or financing issues that have nothing to do with PJM,” Shields said.
While new projects have been approved, delays, state-level energy policies, and other issues prevent them from being built quickly enough to meet the skyrocketing demand.
PJM has lost more than 5.6 net gigawatts in the last decade as power plants shut faster than new ones enter service, according to a PJM presentation filed with regulators this year. PJM added about 5 gigawatts of power-generating capacity in 2024, fewer than smaller grids in California and Texas.
In 2022, PJM stopped processing new applications for power plant connections after it was overloaded with more than 2,000 requests from renewable power projects, each of which required engineering studies before they could connect to the grid. PJM says its interconnection queue has not led to the supply shortfall.
PJM also moved to fast-track connections of 51 power projects to its system, but many of those are still expected to take until 2030 or 2031 to come online.
Delayed auctions and interconnection processes have exacerbated the situation, prompting criticism from stakeholders like Pennsylvania’s governor who is considering leaving the grid if costs aren’t lowered.