The Grid’s Perpetual Emergency: A New Normal Born of Inadequate Planning

The concept of a “new normal” can be both comforting and unsettling. However, when it comes to the US grid, this notion is far from reassuring. Instead, it serves as a stark reminder of our inadequate planning for the future.

Recent records set by PJM, the grid operator serving 65 million people across 13 states, are less a testament to its efficiency than a harbinger of troubles yet to come. The all-time peak load of 168,158 megawatts recorded on July 2 was met with emergency measures that were once reserved for extraordinary situations but have since become routine. Since January, PJM has invoked federal emergency orders three times, and nationally, this tactic has been employed 43 times in the past 14 months – a staggering increase from just 20 instances over nearly 50 years.

The irony is that these emergency measures were initially designed to be exactly that – emergency responses to unforeseen events. Now, however, they’ve become an all-too-familiar part of our grid’s operations. The question, then, is not what caused this shift but rather what it portends for the future.

Data center demand has created a perfect storm of increasing pressure on the grid. In Virginia alone, Dominion Energy serves roughly 450 data centers, with many more in the pipeline. Northern Virginia’s favorable zoning and tax incentives have turned it into a hub for data center development, eclipsing even the next five largest U.S. markets combined.

Aging power plants continue to strain under excessive heat and mechanical failure. The Eddystone units in Pennsylvania, installed between 1967 and 1970, were kept online by the DOE due to repeated orders. These end-of-life generators are a symptom of a grid struggling to keep pace with demand.

The problem is compounded by new generation taking years to plan, permit, and build. The federal government’s decision to cancel two offshore wind leases in March for $928 million illustrates this challenge. These canceled projects would have delivered 1,342 megawatts into PJM by 2031 – a loss that will be felt long after the short-term effects of high demand have passed.

PJM’s capacity price has climbed to unsustainable levels, driven in large part by data centers. The 2026/2027 auction saw prices reach $329 per megawatt-day, pushing against the market’s price cap for the second consecutive year. This raises serious economic and environmental concerns.

Running old power plants and backup generators designed for rare emergencies comes at a steep cost – both in dollars and air quality. As Virginia tightens emissions requirements for new generator permits filed after July 1, 2026, communities living closest to data centers will bear the brunt of this pollution.

The grid’s perpetual emergency is less a response to an unforeseen event than a symptom of our own making – a failure to adequately plan and prepare for what’s to come. Until we can manage load better, until data centers curtail their consumption voluntarily or new supply comes online, calling on emergency power will remain the norm rather than the exception.

The question now is whether we’re willing to confront this reality head-on and chart a different course – one that prioritizes not just meeting current demand but also building for the future with foresight, planning, and a genuine commitment to sustainability.