05/21/2026
PJM, our regional electricity grid manager, reopened its queue for energy projects. Instead of a first-come-first-served model, PJM will switch to a first-ready-first-served. Alas, with federal subsidies for clean energy gone (but fossil fuel subsidies remaining), many problems remain after this shift. This article is a bit Maryland-centric but includes lots of info and insight.
โEvery structure that PJM ever puts into place clearly demonstrates their bias towards fossil fuels and against renewablesโconsistently.โ -- Del. Lorig Charkoudian (D-Montgomery County), who pointed out that PJMโs queue was clogged and closed precisely during the years when federal tax credits for solar and wind were available.
๐๐๐ ๐๐ฃ๐จ๐๐๐ ๐พ๐ก๐๐ข๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐จ: PJM announced it received 811 new generation projects with 220 gigawatts total capacity. Natural gas dominates by capacity, at 105.8 gigawatts across 157 projects, while storage leads by project count at 349 projects and 66.5 gigawatts. Solar accounts for 14.8 gigawatts and wind just 4.7 gigawatts. With gas and nuclear accounting for roughly 55 percent of total capacity, this reflects a dramatic shift from the renewable-dominated queue PJM spent four years clearing.
Renewable energy advocates are dismayed by the scale of what was lost during those four years when the queue remained frozen. ..
โThere was so much renewable energy in that queue that was proposed so long ago, when they were less costly to build, that just died on the vine because PJM was unable to give them permission to interconnect,โ said Jon Gordon, a senior director with Advanced Energy United, an industry group. โItโs one of the reasons weโre in the predicament weโre in today.โ
Gordon attributed the change to data center demand that in turn drives new gas plant proposals. โ๐๐ฎ๐๐-๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐ด๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ ๐ผ๐ป ๐บ๐๐น๐๐ถ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น๐,โ ๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฑ, ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ โ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐น๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ป๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐๐๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ป๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐บ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ด๐ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ท๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป โ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐ฎ๐น๐ผ๐ป๐ด.โ ๐จ๐๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ต๐ผ๐น๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐, ๐ต๐ฒ ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ, ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ป๐ถ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฃ๐๐ โ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐๐ฟ๐๐ฐ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ.
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The link to the article is in the comments.
