For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Jackie Greger, Jackie.Greger@sierraclub.org
PJM Auction Hits Price Cap Again and Falls Short on Projected Power Supply for 2028
Demonstrates Urgent Need for More Large-Scale Clean Energy Generation to Protect Ratepayers
New Jersey - Yesterday, July 14th, PJM Interconnection announced the results of the 2028/2029 Base Residual Auction, or capacity auction.
This capacity auction is based on PJM’s projections of energy demand for 2028/2029, which is then used to procure the appropriate amount of energy supply (through power plants, generators, etc.) to power the 13 state region and the District of Columbia. PJM announced that based on the results, they were unable to procure enough power to satisfy or meet the projected demand for 2028 and fell short of meeting their reliability requirement. The spike in demand for electricity is largely due to the rapid expansion of power-hungry data centers across the region.
Additionally, for the second year in a row, the auction hit the price cap of $325/MW-day, fought for by Pennsylvania's Governor Shapiro and approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in 2025.
NJ Sierra Club Director, Anjuli Ramos-Busot, issued the following statement;
“What this capacity auction result makes blatantly obvious is that PJM cannot keep up with the exponential increase in energy demand coming for data centers across the region.
Through these capacity auctions, we are heavily signaling to the market that we need more generation. However, PJM’s mismanagement of its interconnection queue and its lack of transmission planning is preventing projects from getting successfully interconnected and therefore, preventing new interconnections as well as new proposed projects.
PJM is not allowing the market to do its job.
We need urgent solutions to bring on large-scale interconnection, like offshore wind, battery projects, and solar, to provide good, reliable and clean power onto the grid without further burdening consumers with the expenses of new dirty fossil fuel generation, and these need to be interconnected as fast as possible.
At a time when families across New Jersey are already struggling to keep up with unaffordable electric bills, we cannot afford to not meet our reliability requirements and bring on expensive and volatile power generation like gas that would just increase costs. We need to bring clean energy online now; it is the fastest and cheapest way to avoid the energy demand crisis we are barreling toward full steam ahead.”
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About the Sierra Club: The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information about our work in New Jersey, visit www.sierraclub.org/new-jersey