Engineer 1

PJM issues five-year strategic plan to meet growing demands on grid. PJM released its five-year strategy, which outlines four priorities to meet the demands of accelerating load growth amid constrained capacity. "We will lead competitive market reforms, working with states, members and other stakeholders to shape the pace of resourcing that our region needs," the strategy states. The four priorities include: * Modernize operations for an increasingly complex system and introducing next-generation control room technologies - including enhanced deployments of AI and automation that strengthen and accelerate human judgment. * Ensuring durable market incentives and state alignment. The region needs alignment among all players that have a role in shaping resource adequacy. In collaboration with states and members, PJM will advance urgent market reforms, building on the Powering Reliability Through Market Design work, to ensure the resources the system needs are built. * Proactively adapting planning processes. PJM will deliver accelerated transmission and interconnection processes, supported by next-generation technologies and streamlined processes to meet speed for infrastructure build-out. * Improving decision-making efficiency. The pace of PJM's and its members' decision-making must meet the urgency of the moment. PJM's stakeholder process was built for a different era; PJM will work to reduce friction, streamline governance and accelerate action while preserving trust and transparency. "Our strategy will align PJM and its stakeholders on the actions required to meet the challenges in front of us," Chief Strategy Officer Aftab Khan said. "Making sure we have the resources to support reliability is in the public interest, which demands a partnership that includes PJM, states, utilities, generators and customers. This strategy provides the framework to get us there." To achieve these priorities, PJM will require: * A modern technology backbone that deploys AI and automation. * A workforce empowered to move faster and think differently. * The delivery of reliable service cost-efficiently. The plan also emphasizes the importance of affordability. "Although PJM does not set retail rates, we will be transparent and accountable for costs that are within our control," the strategy states. PJM said the five-year strategy is shaped by significant engagement from members and stakeholders. Going forward, PJM will collaborate with stakeholders on prioritization and timing of initiatives. PJM is currently working to develop a stakeholder road map to prioritize strategy initiatives and other member priorities. Many activities will start in the next year or two, but expectations of completion vary between months and years.

Will Valley Link be cancelled due to public pressure? Everyone knows that corporations are sensitive little beings that will cave in the face of enormous public pressure. Apply enough pressure in the right spot and people can influence corporate behavior. But does that work for transmission projects like Valley Link? In a word... NO! Some Valley Link opposition groups are encouraging everyone to deluge Valley Link with comments before Valley Link's self-imposed deadline of August 14. That's fine, as long as you're trying to influence routing. After all, that's what Valley Link opened that comment period for... to collect your comments about the proposed route segments it showed at the recent open house meetings. If you make enough comments against a certain route segment, and it's one that Valley Link planned to dispose of anyhow, you may be rewarded with that particular route segment's cancellation. But it's not going to stop Valley North. It's just going to push it onto someone else on a different route segment (or maybe a place where no route segments have yet been proposed). Some people mistakenly believe that public pressure will make Valley Link abandon its project altogether. Here's why that will not happen. Once PJM Interconnection selected the Valley Link projects, the company negotiated a contract with PJM called a Designated Entity Agreement (DEA). That DEA requires Valley Link to pursue its transmission projects unless PJM directs otherwise. Valley Link is contractually bound to continue and cannot simply give up because it doesn't like public pressure. Valley Link signed a separate DEA for each state in which it intends to build project components. ... pursuant to Section 1.5.8(j) of Schedule 6 of the Operating Agreement, Designated Entity accepted the designation as the Designated Entity for the Project and therefore has the obligation to construct the Project. Designated Entity shall seek and obtain all required government authority authorizations or approvals as soon as reasonably practicable, and by the milestone dates set forth in the Development Schedule of Schedule C of this Agreement, as applicable. Valley Link must also post security in the form of a Letter of Credit equal to three percent of the cost of the project. That's a lot of scratch on the line if Valley Link decides not to build the project after all because lots of public opposition hurts its fee-fees. Upon the occurrence of an event of Default, the non-Defaulting Party shall be entitled to: (i) commence an action to require the Defaulting Party to remedy such Default and specifically perform its duties and obligations hereunder in accordance with the terms and conditions hereof; (ii) suspend performance hereunder; and (iii) exercise such other rights and remedies as it may have in equity or at law. Upon Default by Designated Entity, Transmission Provider may draw upon the Designated Entity Letter of Credit. Nothing in this Section 7.5 is intended in any way to affect the rights of a third-party to seek any remedy it may have in equity or at law from the Designated Entity resulting from the Designated Entity's default of this Agreement. Article 8 provides the only way out for Valley Link, where PJM ("the transmission provider") cancels the project because it is no longer needed. Only PJM can perform this action. PJM reviews planned projects on a yearly basis to confirm they are still needed. PJM's reviews are technical and pretty much untouchable. You can apply all the public pressure you want... PJM simply doesn't care. PJM is immune to public pressure. They are not selling a product or service that people consume voluntarily. PJM's planning process is also agnostic to political pressure, although PJM plays the political game in other areas. You're not going to influence PJM's technical reviews with public pressure. But wait... that's not all! There's another reason why Valley Link will never voluntarily abandon Valley North! The Abandoned Plant incentive guarantees that Valley Link can make a filing at FERC to collect its prudent sunk costs in the event that a project is abandoned for reasons outside the control of Valley Link. ...recovery of 100% of prudently incurred costs in the event that all or part of the Project Portfolio must be abandoned for reasons outside the control of Valley Link (Abandoned Plant Incentive), Those reasons outside Valley Link's control would include PJM's cancellation of the project. Valley Link giving up because of public pressure is totally within Valley Link's control and therefore Valley Link would not be eligible to collect what it has spent on the project. So, not only would Valley Link be breaking a contract and losing its security, it would also be forfeiting its investment in Valley North. Valley Link's investment in Valley North will be north of a billion dollars. What do you think Valley Link values more... your goodwill or a billion dollars? I'm betting they don't care what you think. And why should they? You're a captive consumer of electricity (unless you generate 100% of what you use in an off-grid situation). Valley Link and its parent companies know you have no choice to stop being their customer (or even choose to be their customer in the first place) if you don't like the Valley North project. And speaking of those corporate parents, American Electric Power, FirstEnergy and Dominion, avoiding public pressure is one of the reasons they joined forces and created a shell company to own the transmission projects everyone hates. So, yes, please do submit your comments to Valley Link if you want to influence routing. Just know that you're not going to make Valley Link abandon the Valley North transmission project. StopPATH WV, Inc. is going to have to fight this battle at the state regulatory commissions, where a denial can trigger PJM to re-evaluate the project. Remember the first rule of transmission opposition: It's a marathon, not a sprint.

US utility market plays catch-up to data centre load growth. 06 August 2026 Article written by Aisling Hubert Developers scramble for interconnection, leading to double counting of projects by utilities In 2025, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) was forced to revise downwards its forecast data centre pipeline by roughly 400 MW - equivalent to 25 data centres or 250,000 homes. This write-down was due to the double, triple and sometimes quadruple counting of data centres, as developers seek to hedge their bets due to lengthy and uncertain electricity interconnection queues. Similarly, AEP Ohio cut its list of pending projects by 30%, removing data centre developers with only speculative financial strength from its queue. Interconnection challenges have emerged as one of the most significant risks to the pace of data-centre expansion. Google's Head of Sustainability and Climate Policy, Marsden Hanna, stated that "Transmission barriers are the number one challenge we're seeing on the grid", and, "We have utilities in many markets telling us four or five, sometimes ten years to interconnect". Currently, it takes on average seven years for project interconnection in the US. Challenges with interconnection have already stunted data centre rollout in other countries such as Ireland where the application accounts for roughly 22% of the country's electricity consumption, more than all residential use in the country. This figure has risen by 531% since 2015. As a consequence, in 2021, Ireland instated a temporary moratorium on new data centre rollouts until new legislation was passed in December 2025. Now, any data centre seeking a grid connection must install on-site generation or battery systems capable of meeting its full electricity demand, with 80% coming from renewable energy. Operators will also be required to provide power back to the national grid when needed. US ratepayers' electricity bills are up by as much as 16% y/y in data centre heavy states The current system of US ratepayers footing much of the bill for data centres has had ramifications on average electricity prices, which rose by 7% on average from October 2024 to October 2025 - even more in states with high data centre loads, such as Illinois, which rose by 16% y/y. Electricity prices are already a politically sensitive issue in the US, with residential tariffs rising meaningfully since 2021. Against that backdrop, hyperscale data centres, which are often highly visible, water-intensive and tax-advantaged, have become focus areas for public concern. The core fear is that utilities will be forced to overbuild generation, substations and transmission to serve uncertain large loads, with the costs spread across all customers. Several utilities and regulators have explicitly acknowledged this risk, prompting new tariff structures that require large loads to underwrite upgrades or commit to minimum take-or-pay volumes, sometimes as high as 85% of contracted demand. The US Department of Energy now forecasts 20 GW of incremental data-centre load by 2030 and estimates that data centres could account for 6.7% to 12% of total US electricity consumption by 2028, up from 4.4% in 2023. For a three-year horizon, that range is extraordinarily wide and highlights the scale of uncertainty utilities are being asked to plan against. The main question is who will take on the costs associated with planning for this uncertainty. ERCOT introduces stricter interconnection criteria With the scale of the challenge against the historically slow-moving grid institutions, changes are being implemented at a policy level to try and get power generation and interconnection planning up to speed. At the federal level, proposals have emerged to accelerate permitting and explore new procurement mechanisms that force large loads to "pay their way". PJM, under direction from federal regulators, is developing new frameworks for connecting large loads that bring their own generation, accept curtailment risk or rely on flexible interconnection arrangements rather than firm capacity. In Texas, ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) serves 90% of the state. This independent system operator is responsible for managing the grid reliability, generation and power pricing. In early 2026, ERCOT announced "Batch Zero", a new planning system for large load interconnection. With this, developers with loads over 75 MW will face stricter eligibility criteria and maturity requirements, ensuring projects are prioritised effectively and delays are reduced. It also will prioritise projects that bring their own generation - a move being seen across global energy markets. Gas turbine demand has spiked as data centres try to circumnavigate the grid Alongside regulatory reform, data-centre operators are increasingly turning to technical solutions that reduce reliance on traditional grid expansion. One approach is co-location with power generation, allowing data centres to connect "behind the meter" and limit their net withdrawals from the grid. Another is the expanded use of on-site generation, including gas turbines originally designed for aviation to bridge multi-year interconnection delays. The demand for gas turbines has risen dramatically, and with average wait times of five years at present, demand has also fuelled a substantial secondary market. Going forward, nuclear small modular reactors could provide an optimal solution, though regulation renders it an unfeasible solution for now. Aluminium overhead cable demand has risen by roughly 9% CAGR from 2020-2026 CRU has written previously on the demand for wire and cable within data centre campuses themselves. Here, IWMA attempt to understand the changing demand to the wider electricity grid which, in the US, is mainly comprised of aluminium overhead conductors in the form of ACSS (Aluminium Conductor Steel Supported) and ACSR (Aluminium Conductor Steel Reinforced). Historically, a large portion of the aluminium overhead conductors used in the United States have been imported. This percentage share of imports rose to a record high of 68% in 2023, when challenges with domestic US production prompted utilities to look overseas to fulfil their grid obligations. Since then, production has normalised - meanwhile, demand for aluminium overhead lines has risen by an average of 9% CAGR between 2020 and 2026 rising from 107 kt conductors used to 166 kt conductors, respectively. CRU understand that roughly half of cable procurement is used for ongoing maintenance and reconductoring, with the other half being used for new transmission and distribution projects. Expansion of aluminium conductor production from existing players is likely as demand grows and tariffs take effect The rapid expansion of data-centre demand is reshaping not only utility planning but also the structure and urgency of investment across the US wire and cable supply chain. As interconnection delays lengthen and regulators tighten eligibility criteria, "bring your own power" solutions and greater on-site generation will increasingly become the norm for hyperscalers driving demand for behind-the-meter power, including wind, solar and battery storage solution. At the same time, Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminium will benefit the investment attractiveness for US-based aluminium overhead line production, which has been neglected in recent years due to lower margins commanded compared to high-voltage insulated cable products and EPC projects. CRU expects that this convergence of structural load growth, policy intervention and shifting procurement strategies will spur further cable manufacturing capacity additions and localisation efforts among US producers.