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Dive Brief:
PJM Interconnection stakeholders on Tuesday approved a two-part reliability backstop procurement plan to help supply data centers with electricity and meet an expected power supply shortfall in two years.
Under the plan, utilities and other load-serving entities, and potentially data centers themselves, would ask PJM to buy a specific amount of capacity in a one-time auction. Load-serving entities would bill large loads for the procurement. The entire procurement’s average cost would be capped at $555/MW-day.
The PJM board will consider the plan when it drafts a final backstop procurement proposal, which it aims to submit for review to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission this month. The grid operator also plans to submit a “connect and manage” framework for data centers, but stakeholders failed to reach a consensus on that issue.
