State Sen. Gene Yaw (R-Lycoming) held a hearing recently to look into escalating concerns about the state’s electric grid amid rapidly changing demands.
The Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, which Yaw chairs, held a hearing at the Energy Innovation Center in Pittsburgh to hear testimony from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, PJM Interconnection, ReliabilityFirst and other industry experts.
“Pennsylvania sits at the center of the PJM grid and the decisions we make today will determine whether families and businesses have access to affordable and reliable electricity in the years ahead,” Yaw said. “This hearing provided a clear assessment of the challenges before us and the steps we must take to stay ahead of them.”
Witnesses testified about the mounting pressures on the grid caused by data center development, generation retirements and infrastructure constraints. Officials expect that PJM will face resource shortfalls as early as 2029 without some action.
Stephen DeFrank, chairman of PUC, said new power generation is not coming online fast enough because of supply chain delays, pipeline constraints and slow siting processes. Additionally, he said the state needs to improve how it predicts future power demand, and update how large energy users are charged. Lastly, he said the legislature needs to make it easier to build new power generation of all sizes, including at retired plant sites.
Representatives from PJM said reliability risks will continue into the next decade if significant new generation does not come online. The PJM officials also highlighted the challenge of integrating large data centers that can require hundreds of megawatts, while identifying some of the resources needed to serve them.
Glen Thomas, of the GT Power Group, said the state’s competitive energy market has delivered sustained benefits over time but is now showing signs of stress as supply fails to keep pace with demand. He predicted that while the state has traditionally been an energy exporter, it faces losing that competitive edge without significant new generation.
And Andrew Tubbs, president and CEO of the Energy Association of Pennsylvania, said one challenge facing the state is that the new power projects being built throughout Pennsylvania are being built specifically for data centers and will not help meet broader electricity needs for residents and businesses. He said utilities have invested billions of dollars on infrastructure to maintain reliability, but he also warned that the challenges cannot be solved without increasing generation from all viable sources and ensuring that there is accountability for how capacity dollars are invested.
“Today’s testimony sends a clear, overwhelming message that Pennsylvania must position itself to address reliability risks directly, not wait for a crisis,” Yaw added.