Breaking: Energy Secretary Wright Grants PJM Emergency Powers Across 13 States
The federal order authorized the grid operator to command backup power from data centers and exceed generator limits during a critical four-day window in mid-October.
By Giulia Marshall ·
Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued a federal emergency order on Sunday, October 12, 2026, that granted PJM Interconnection temporary authority to manage the power grid across 13 states and the District of Columbia. The order, issued under section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, remained in effect from October 13 through October 16, 2026. This directive allowed PJM to take specific actions to maintain regional stability during a period of unusually high demand and scheduled maintenance. The affected area includes Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington D.C., serving approximately 67 million people.
The emergency authorization gave PJM the power to direct designated generation units to produce electricity beyond their normal operating permits. It also permitted the grid operator to direct data centers and other large electricity users to switch to their backup generation systems if necessary. The Department of Energy specified that PJM could deploy auxiliary, standby, directly connected, or battery storage resources located at data centers, including hyperscaler facilities, as well as at other large industrial and commercial sites. These powers were intended to ensure that sufficient electricity was available to meet consumer needs without requiring widespread changes in daily habits.
Federal officials and PJM clarified that the order was a preventive measure designed to avoid interruptions in service rather than an announcement of scheduled blackouts. No mandatory conservation orders were issued to the public, and no blackouts occurred during the emergency window. For most households in the region, daily electricity usage remained normal, and residents did not need to take any specific action to help stabilize the grid. The alerts issued by PJM were primarily technical signals to generation and transmission owners to prepare for tight conditions.
The strain on the grid resulted from a collision between unusually warm October weather and the fall shoulder season. During this period, generator and transmission owners typically take equipment offline for maintenance and upgrades ahead of the winter months. Most scheduled outages are prohibited during the summer peak, which ended in mid-September, but the warm weather pushed demand higher than expected while maintenance was still underway. This created a scenario where the available generation capacity was closely matched against the projected load, leaving little room for error.
PJM had issued a Capacity Advisory for the first time on Friday, October 9, for the following Monday and Tuesday. This was the first use of a procedure that PJM members endorsed in June 2026 for situations where projected conditions indicate an approaching capacity shortfall. The load forecast was approximately 102,000 megawatts of peak demand on Monday and about 104,000 megawatts on Tuesday. This demand was set against previously scheduled generation outages of about 70,000 megawatts and planned transmission outages. Paul Dajewski, PJM’s senior manager for dispatch, noted that this volume of outages is typical for the shoulder season, but the weather exacerbated the challenge.
Transmission limits further complicated the situation by restricting how much electricity could move between different zones. Generation was effectively bottled in some areas due to these constraints, particularly in resources serving congested zones in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. These areas correspond to the BGE, Pepco, and Dominion zones. The combination of high demand, maintenance outages, and transmission bottlenecks required PJM to activate its emergency protocols to ensure that electricity flowed where it was needed most.
The role of data centers in this emergency highlighted a changing reality for the grid. PJM noted that the traditional shoulder-season reprieve is no longer consistent with current demand patterns. Most of the new, rapidly growing demand comes from data centers and other energy-intensive customers whose consumption does not decrease with the weather. This demand is a 12-month, 24/7 phenomenon that is outpacing the addition of new transmission and electricity supply. The emergency order allowed PJM to tap into the backup systems of these facilities to bridge the gap between supply and demand.
PJM’s Winter Outlook, released on November 5, 2026, projects sufficient resources to meet demand this winter under expected conditions. The operator expects 182,426 megawatts of operational capacity to serve a forecast winter peak of approximately 147,500 megawatts. This peak, driven by continued demand growth, would set a new winter record if reached. Reliable operations will depend on strong generator performance during extreme cold, especially in the BGE, Pepco, and Dominion zones where transmission constraints limit deliveries. Michael Bryson, PJM’s senior vice president of operations, stated that the goal is to coordinate operations with owners to proactively manage the system to perform at high levels when consumers need energy the most.
