PJM approves 99 GW of natural gas projects

Natural gas made up nearly half of the 204 gigawatts of new power capacity that cleared PJM Interconnection’s first reformed grid connection queue, easily outpacing battery storage and solar.

The surge reflects a scramble to meet explosive demand from hyperscale data centers in Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania that are gobbling up local grid capacity and pushing regulators to fast-track new generation. PJM, the largest U.S. grid operator, overhauled its interconnection process last year to cut a backlog of 2,000-plus projects stuck in multi-year studies, so the first results give a snapshot of what developers now believe will clear the market fastest.

Of the 204 GW that qualified, 99 GW came from natural-gas plants already permitted or under construction, compared with 41 GW of solar and 35 GW of battery storage. The totals include projects that can be online by 2027, the horizon PJM uses to plan reliability. Data-center tenants like Amazon and Microsoft have signed power-purchase agreements with gas-fired facilities in Loudoun County, Virginia, and Columbus, Ohio, to guarantee 24/7 supply while they wait for new transmission lines to be built.

Grid operators warn that even with the reforms, the queue still contains more than 2,500 projects waiting for study and interconnection agreements. PJM says it will now move into a second phase of cluster studies that will test whether the proposed resources can actually deliver power without overloading local substations. If the gas-dominated queue holds, it could lock in decades of carbon emissions in a region that has pledged to cut power-sector pollution 80% by 2030. Analysts say the outcome will shape whether the Mid-Atlantic can meet its climate goals or rely on fossil fuels to keep the lights on while data-center load doubles every few years.