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Posted 3 years ago | 2 minute read

PJM prepared to meet summer demand

PJM Interconnection has said it expects enough supply to meet summer electricity needs for the 65M people it serves in 13 states and the District of Columbia.

According to the forecast, published on May 11, PJM expects summer peak demand for electricity of approximately 149,000MW but said it has performed reliability studies at even higher loads – in excess of 157,000MW. PJM has approximately 185,000MW of installed generating capacity available to meet customer needs, with sufficient resources available in reserve to cover generation that is unexpectedly unavailable or for other unanticipated changes in demand. Last year’s peak demand was approximately 149,000MW. While warm ocean waters suggest this year may be slightly warmer than 2021, PJM is expecting demand consistent with last summer. PJM’s all-time one-day highest power use was recorded in the summer of 2006 at 165,563MW.

According to GridBeyond Regional Director Alden Phinney:

“PJM’s ample supply of capacity means that electricity consumers are exposed to less grid instability than in other American regions. For large industrial customers, this is a blessing for resiliency but has significant negative impact on the value of their traditional Capacity Performance demand response revenues. GridBeyond is working with industrial power users and generators to derive new value streams from the Ancillary and Energy markets, where values are increasing significantly with the advent of new renewable and intermittent generation resources.”

In preparation for summer, PJM noted its work with transmission and generation owners throughout the spring to ensure that critical maintenance and system improvements were completed. To stay ahead of any fuel-related supply chain concerns, PJM said it will continue to conduct fuel inventories every two weeks and monitor results for the generation fleet.

GridBeyond SVP North America Wayne Muncaster said:

“We are in the middle of the 2nd major transition since the industrial revolution in the early 1900s with increased global demand for power and proliferation of renewable power generation driving significant change. Our customers are already feeling the effects in terms of the reliability of power supplies and the costs of purchasing the energy required for their operations.

“While its positive that PJM are not expecting significant problems this coming summer, the latest weather forecasts are suggesting that we could expect warmer than normal temperatures over much of the western half of the country severe weather could bring problems for the grid.”

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