PJM Interconnection has proposed a framework that would require some new data centers and other large electricity users to reduce or transfer their demand when power supplies approach dangerously low levels. Facilities with backup generation could switch away from the grid before utilities curtail traditional customers.
The proposal would create an Interim Resource Adequacy Service for new large loads that do not bring enough new generation or otherwise secure capacity. PJM also plans a registry recording the size, location, operating date and backup-generation characteristics of large users. The operator serves about 67 million people across 13 states and the District of Columbia.
The filing is a direct response to tightening capacity and fast-rising demand. It would let new projects connect under stricter reliability conditions, but the mechanism depends on state authorities and local utilities to decide which customers are actually curtailed.
