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By Giulia Carbonaro
Senior Reporter
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PJM Interconnection, a power-grid operator that provides energy to 65 million people in a region stretching from New Jersey to North Carolina, issued a maximum generation alert on Monday due to expected hot and humid weather in the area.
The alert will be in place on Tuesday, August 27, in parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia. It was issued "a day in advance of conditions that may require all generators to operate at their maximum output capability," reads an update published on X, formerly Twitter, by the company. "PJM is issuing the alert as a precautionary measure in the event exports of electricity outside of the PJM footprint need to be curtailed."
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As temperatures are expected to go above 90 degrees Fahrenheit across the PJM region, the company expects electricity demand to skyrocket.
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A preliminary peak of 141,094 MW in electricity use for the region operated by PJM was reached on Monday, August 26, between 5 and 6 a.m. ET, the company reported. PJM anticipates the electricity usage peak for August 27 to reach 149,600 MW at 5 p.m. ET., and 153,400 MW on Wednesday.
This summer's peak of 153,400 MW, reached on July 16, was still lower than PJM's all-time, one-day highest power use of 165,563 MW, reported in the summer of 2006.
Large parts of the country are expected to swelter under a heat wave this week, with 55 million people in states in the Midwest under some kind of alert. The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued excessive heat warnings for parts of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Iowa.
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PJM customers are not required to take any action, as the alert is aimed at owners of transmission and generation equipment. In a statement to Newsweek, PJM Interconnection said: "PJM issued the Maximum Generation Alert as a precaution due to the high load forecast and because PJM currently has an increased amount of electricity being exported to other regions.
"In this instance, the alert is simply the procedural step PJM has to take to be able to curtail its exports to other regions if that is needed to maintain PJM's reserve requirements. There are no current transmission or operational issues within PJM."
PJM coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. It is the largest power grid operator in the country.
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PJM took a similar precautionary measure in July 2023, when it issued a maximum generation emergency/load management alert as well as an energy emergency alert 1 (EEA-1) over a heat wave in the region the company serves.
A spokesperson for the company told political website The Hill at the time that the alerts were necessary to "help prepare generators for the onset of intense heat, acting conservatively in light of recent extreme weather events that have occurred within the region and across the country."
PJM says that last year's peak demand was approximately 149,000 MW—much lower than the amount of energy PJM expects will be used on Tuesday and Wednesday.
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It might have something to do with the fact that temperatures are steadily rising, year after year: June 2024 was the hottest one on record, according to data released last month by the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service. It was also the 13th consecutive month to break the hottest record for the respective month of the year.
Update/Correction, 18:22 p.m. ET: This article was updated to include a comment from PJM. Additionally, a previous line incorrectly stated that the company issued a maximum generation emergency in July 2024, when it was July 2023.
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