PJM Interconnection, the nation’s largest regional grid operator for over 67 million people across 13 states and Washington D.C., warned of potential power shortfalls of up to 60 GW over the next decade. PJM most recently said electric supply is projected to fall short of the “reserve margin” for the period of June 2027 to May 2028.

The reserve margin represents the grid’s built‑in safety cushion: extra generating capacity held in case of emergencies, unexpected outages, or demand spikes. In December, PJM reported a 6 GW shortfall in its latest capacity auction. It was the first time the RTO failed to procure enough resources to meet its reliability requirement. As a result, PJM warned that it may not have sufficient generation to meet peak demand plus required reserves starting in mid‑2027.

The surge is driven largely by AI‑intensive data centers, which are dominant drivers of new interconnection requests across PJM’s footprint and are heavily concentrated in Northern Virginia – widely recognized as the largest data‑center cluster in the US. This pairs with retirements or reduced performance among existing plants. With demand accelerating faster than new generation and transmission can be built, PJM has launched new frameworks to evaluate and manage large load additions, underscoring federal concerns about blackout risks.

Read more: Data Center Dynamics