PJM “Hunger Games” Pits Energy Storage, Solar Against Natural Gas, Nuclear

PJM, the grid operator covering all or part of 13 states plus DC (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C.), has narrowed a huge backlog of proposed power plants down to 715 projects that will now go through further review. Energy storage (batteries) led with 314 projects, followed by natural gas at 147 and solar at 117. Wind came in at 61, solar-plus-storage combos at 37, nuclear at 24, and hydropower at just 5. But measured by actual power output, natural gas still dominates, accounting for nearly half of the total 201.5 gigawatts on the list.

None of this guarantees these plants get built. PJM says demand is expected to grow by only about 70 gigawatts over the next decade, mostly from data centers, so far fewer than 715 projects will actually make it to completion. PJM notes that even previously approved projects often stall due to permitting delays or supply problems, and gas turbines in particular face long waits due to global shortages. Solar and storage projects tend to get built faster, in 12 to 18 months, compared with three-plus years for gas plants and even longer for nuclear.

For homeowners in PJM territory, this is mostly background noise for now, a sign of which power sources are competing to supply your region's grid in the years ahead. It does not change today's electricity bill or any current rebate programs, but it offers a hint at what your local power mix could look like down the road.