The U.S. Department of Energy issued an emergency order letting the operator of the power grid that serves Southern Maryland run backup generators as a last resort through Friday, Oct. 16.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued Order No. 202-26-50 under Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act on Oct. 12, after PJM Interconnection asked for it the day before. The order runs from Oct. 13 through Oct. 16, the Energy Department said.
PJM runs the high-voltage grid and wholesale power market for Maryland, the District and all or parts of 12 other states. Its system covers the utilities that serve Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties.
According to the department, PJM expects higher-than-normal demand at the same time that many power plants are offline for scheduled fall maintenance and numerous transmission lines are out for planned work. Fall is when plants and lines are usually taken down for repairs, because demand is normally lower between summer and winter peaks.
Wright said the order is meant to protect families and businesses across the mid-Atlantic, and that “this administration remains committed to using every available tool to prevent blackouts.”
What the order allows
The order directs PJM to dispatch designated generating units when needed to keep the system reliable. It also lets PJM call on backup generation as a last resort, either just before or during an Energy Emergency Alert Level 3. That is the highest grid emergency level, when rotating outages may be needed.
Backup generation in these orders means generators at data centers, including large “hyperscaler” facilities, and at other large industrial and commercial sites, according to a PJM presentation to its Operating Committee on Oct. 8. Hours that units run under a 202(c) order do not count toward certain environmental limits, though monitoring and reporting still apply, PJM said.
The department did not name the units covered. It said more than 35 gigawatts of backup generation sits unused nationwide.
Not the first time
Emergency orders have become routine for PJM this year. PJM’s presentation lists at least 13 other 202(c) orders for its region since January. They include a late-January order to run every generating unit in the region at maximum output, backup generation orders in February, June and July, and repeated orders keeping older plants available to run.
One of those keeps Wagner Unit 4, a Talen Energy unit at the H.A. Wagner plant in Anne Arundel County, available through Nov. 17. PJM said it plans to seek a renewal of that order in late October.
The orders come as Maryland’s ratepayer advocate is challenging PJM’s plan to buy power for projected data center growth. Charles County commissioners heard from PJM and the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel on Sept. 22 about Maryland’s reliance on electricity imported from other states, and Commissioner BJ Bowling recently shifted his data center fight to power supply.
PJM is also weighing how a recent federal appeals court ruling in Michigan v. DOE affects some 202(c) orders, according to its presentation.
The Energy Department did not say whether PJM had called on backup generation by the time the order took effect.
