Welcome to a new week. Where some see stinky seaweed, Mexico sees powerful potential. As the country’s Caribbean coast is bombarded with sargassum, government officials have suggested turning it into biofuel (along with plastic and fertilizer). But, like the seaweed, that effort has yet to get off the ground. 🏖️
— Molly, Carrie, and the Energy Central editorial team
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PJM to data centers: BYO new capacity…or get curtailed.
The details: That’s the major takeaway from PJM’s new proposal—Interim Resource Adequacy Service (IRAS)—that it filed with FERC last week. Yes, another acronym. Under IRAS, new large loads lacking fresh capacity would be ordered to reduce power use when regional supplies are dangerously tight. In these situations, PJM would alert utilities to curb or transfer demand from these heavy power users before any other customers.
The big picture: IRAS aligns with the White House’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, PJM noted, which encourages large loads to shield other customers from new generation costs. Other grid operators, including ERCOT and SPP, have offered similar large-load proposals.
The confusion: Large loads that comply with IRAS may receive credits. You may be thinking: Who’s paying for them? That’s up to states and utilities to figure out, the grid operator said.
What’s next: PJM has asked FERC to accept its submission by mid-October. If the proposal pans out, PJM will exclude large loads sans new supply from future capacity targets (beginning with the 2029/30 auction).
The data center buildout is fueling a coal comeback.
The latest: In the Midwest, Evergy is asking the Kansas Corporation Commission and the Missouri PSC for the OK to delay the conversion or retirement of nearly 3 GW of coal plants by over five years. And over in West Virginia, AEP elbowed out a major data center developer to buy a 710-MW coal plant.
The trend: After two decades of coal decline, the AI frenzy has pushed back the retirement of over a dozen US facilities.
ERCOT made a modeling mistake—and bought an average of 3.7 GW less in reserves.
Whoops: For seven months, the grid operator has run on trimmer-than-intended reserves. Why? Nobody double-checked the planning model, The Dallas Morning News reported. Despite the oversight, the grid kept on chugging as it hit demand records twice in one week: In late July, ERCOT recorded 87.4 GW and 91.3 GW in demand amid searing temps.
What now? There’s no need to fix the shortage this year, officials said, but in 2027 ERCOT plans to require customers to pay for extra backup power.
While we’re here: NextEra has secured $3.3B from the Department of Commerce and the Japanese government for up to 10 GW of natural gas plants in TX and PA. This announcement fits into a broader US-Japan trade deal that also includes up to 10 new nuclear reactors.
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State officials have ideas for how utilities (and PJM) can bring down power prices. 💡
In Michigan: The state PSC has suggested multi-year rate plans, performance-based ratemaking, and requiring utilities to prioritize existing grid infrastructure before building more.
In New Jersey: The Board of Public Utilities unveiled research demonstrating that PJM “can no longer deliver reliable power at the lowest possible cost.” Some of their recommendations: 1) Shift from one auction per year to a seasonal structure “that matches supply to real conditions” 2) offer longer-term contracting options and 3) give states more say in PJM decision-making.
In West Virginia: The state has zero hyperscale data centers…but officials want to change that. To get ahead of the buildout, lawmakers announced a plan to “establish state-level oversight and strict development criteria” for these facilities. The plan includes a push for developer transparency, ratepayer protection, and data center demand-response.
The Pacific Northwest needs an unprecedented 11+ GW of new generation over the next five years.
The details: This figure comes from the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s recent draft report. The target includes 9 GW of renewables, 5 GW of storage, and 2.1 GW of natural gas. Along with other grid upgrades, the regional plan is set to cost around $2.3B. This would prove quite the feat—the last time the PNW added 10 GW to its energy mix, it took a decade.
Why the rush? The NPCC has predicted that the region’s demand could double over the next 20 years. That estimate is driven by data centers, building and transit electrification, and hydrogen production.
Every asset that hasn't failed yet—still in service, still reporting clean readings—isn't a blank. It's a right-censored observation.
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