The roadmap: PJM’s last two capacity auctions each fell around 7 GW short. To plug that reliability gap, the grid operator’s board is directing staff to file the Reliability Backstop Procurement plan with FERC. If approved, this emergency auction would run from Sept. 30 to Oct. 21, with a cap of $555/MW-day (up from PJM’s previous auction limit of $325/MW-day).

Plus: In another remedy to the capacity shortage, PJM wants to order large loads lacking “sufficient capacity” to reduce consumption ahead of grid emergencies.

The forecast: Across PJM territory, large-load demand is projected to increase 70 GW by 2038. Meanwhile, around 15 GW of resources have retired since 2022. Now, the hope is that these proposed measures can get the grid out of its capacity crunch.

The dilemma: The controversial federal plan to store radioactive waste inside Nevada’s Yucca Mountain never panned out. Since then, the issue has gone unsolved—and has only become more urgent as the Trump administration goes all in on nuclear. 

The solution: The DOE is planning “Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses.” These will “support activities across the full nuclear fuel lifecycle,” including reprocessing and disposition of used fuel. And over half the country is vying to host them.

The winners: Yesterday, Energy Sec. Chris Wright announced that Utah, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Idaho had been selected as potential hosts.

Earlier this month, NextEra and Dominion submitted their merger applications to state and federal agencies. The latest update: The deal is set to close in the second half of 2027, NextEra CEO John Ketchum said in a Q2 earnings call this week. The mega-utility could more than double in size by 2032, he predicted.

In the Golden State: PG&E has 12.7 GW in its data center pipeline…up from 5.1 GW in Q1. Now, the company says it’s giving possible projects more scrutiny to boost confidence in the queue. By 2030, the utility predicts it’ll serve 1.8 GW of new data centers. “As we continue to build our pipeline, we’re focusing not on size, but on quality,” said PG&E Corporation CEO Patti Poppe on a recent earnings call.

Down South: CenterPoint Energy has submitted >17 GW of large-load projects to ERCOT’s new Batch Zero interconnection process, and expects 14 GW “to be eligible as base load or studied load,” according to a statement. This would raise CenterPoint’s Houston peak demand by more than 65%. 

Also in Texas: Meta and BlackRock have announced a 1-GW data center project in El Paso…but it’s unclear where all that power will come from.

Power problems: The $6B Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE) entered full service on July 1…and had issues that same day. The chaos continued, keeping CHPE offline for most of the month.

We are so back: After repairs, CHPE returned online on July 25. Now, the project is expected to meet up to 20% of NYC’s energy needs. 

The issue? A faulty section of cable, according to the Canadian line operator Hydro-Québec (which has replaced it). Now, the company is inspecting it to figure out what went wrong.