The PJM Markets and Reliability Committee and Members Committee endorsed the RTO’s recommended installed reserve margin and forecast pool requirement for the third 2026/27 Incremental Auction.

PJM stakeholders kicked off discussions on creating a “backstop” auction to be held in September at the insistence of the Trump administration and the governors of the RTO’s 13 states.

Despite the Trump administration and all 13 PJM governors proposing a host of new initiatives, the RTO falling short of its reliability requirement does not constitute a crisis, writes columnist Steve Huntoon.

The PJM Board of Managers has selected a path forward for addressing a groundswell of large load interconnections expected over the coming decade.

PJM enters 2026 amid several efforts to ward off a reliability gap attributed to accelerating data center load, sluggish development of new capacity and resource deactivations.

The Independent Market Monitor filed a complaint asking FERC to determine that PJM has the authority to hold off on large load interconnections if they would jeopardize transmission security or resource adequacy.

PJM needs every megawatt of supply it can secure, and the last thing it should do is inadvertently force existing supply out of the market, warns Michael D. Smith, CEO of CPower.

The PJM Members Committee voted against each of the dozen proposals brought to address rising data center load as part of the RTO’s Critical Issue Fast Path process.

PJM stakeholders are to vote on a record-breaking number of proposals on how the RTO should integrate large loads without impacting resource adequacy.

The PJM Board of Managers has directed staff to proceed with a Quadrennial Review design that reworks the capacity auction price curve and sets the reference resource as a combustion turbine for all zones.