PJM Warns of 6,800 MW Grid Gap as Data Centers Surge

A Widening Power Gap

PJM Interconnection, the grid operator responsible for keeping electricity flowing across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and a dozen other states, has issued a stark warning: the region could face a shortfall of 6,831 megawatts by the 2028-29 delivery year. The gap stems from a collision between surging demand — driven largely by data centers and industrial expansion — and a pace of new generation that simply isn't keeping up 1.

The warning is not an isolated one. Across the country, grid operators are grappling with the same underlying tension: artificial intelligence and cloud computing are driving explosive growth in electricity-hungry data centers, and the infrastructure needed to power them is struggling to keep pace.

Texas Faces a Similar Reckoning

In Texas, lawmakers are now debating whether the state's grid needs significantly more natural gas generation to keep up. ERCOT, the operator of the Texas grid, managed a record summer peak demand of 91,089 megawatts without major incident, but officials have cautioned that future stability is far less certain given the rapid growth in data center demand 5. The debate underscores a broader theme playing out nationally: even grids that perform well under current stress tests are being forced to reassess their long-term capacity planning as data center construction accelerates.

Transparency and New Solutions

Part of the challenge, according to PJM, is simply knowing where demand is coming from. The operator has proposed creating a registry for facilities that consume more than 50 megawatts of electricity, a move aimed at giving planners better visibility into which projects are driving load growth and how quickly 3. Better data, the reasoning goes, should translate into better forecasting and fewer surprises.

On the supply side, utilities and developers are pursuing a mix of fixes. In West Texas, the Rockhound Solar project is scaling toward more than 2 gigawatts of capacity by 2029, part of a broader push to bring large-scale clean energy online to meet rising demand 2. In California, a pilot program is testing a very different approach: using parked electric vehicles as distributed batteries, with a single EV capable of powering roughly 120 homes and storing enough energy to cover an average household's needs for several days 4.

Data Centers Go Their Own Way

Meanwhile, some data center operators aren't waiting for the grid to catch up at all. Facing strained utility infrastructure and lengthy interconnection wait times, roughly 40% of new data center capacity is now expected to be built entirely off-grid, relying on dedicated gas power rather than public utility connections 6.

Taken together, the reporting points to a grid under mounting strain from an industry — AI and cloud computing — whose appetite for electricity is outrunning traditional planning timelines, pushing operators, lawmakers, and data center builders alike toward unconventional stopgaps.