Contact: Tom Schuster, tom.schuster@sierraclub.org, 814-915-4231
Harrisburg, PA - Today, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission released an independent study on grid reliability in Pennsylvania and across the PJM grid operator’s region as more data centers connect to the grid. The results are startling. The study by Synapse Energy Economics projects that, under PJM’s current load forecast and no new state policy or regulation, the region will not have enough power starting next year in 2027. By 2030, expected outage days are nearly six times the accepted standard. If data center demand runs higher and new electricity generation remains unbuilt, the report expects more than 13 days with outages in 2030 alone, and power prices that customers cannot absorb.
In a scenario in which no new data centers are built, supply can keep up with demand, and the region is projected to meet the reliability standard by a significant margin.
While there is no easy solution to this problem, there have been many attempts to regulate data centers that would help address it. Earlier this year, the Pennsylvania House passed HB 1834 and HB 2650, which create new requirements on large data centers to protect energy affordability, grid reliability, and the environment. Both bills had bipartisan support but have stalled in the Senate. Last month, Governor Shapiro issued an executive order creating a two-tiered data center permitting system intended to push data center developers to adhere to many of those standards, but the impact on data center developer decisions is not yet clear.
In response to the PUC’s report, Tom Schuster, Director of the Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter, issued the following statement:
This report underscores what we’ve been warning — if the Senate fails to act, there will be severe consequences for all Pennsylvanians from the data center rush. This is not unexpected, nor is it an act of God. It is the predictable result of adding massive amounts of new electricity demand with no clear pathway to add the generation, storage, and transmission needed to serve it.
Harrisburg has bills on the table to address this problem. What it has not had is the will to finish the job. Today’s report should be a wake-up call for every elected official in the state. The legislature and the Governor can clear the way to build power and put guardrails on the data center industry, or wait for the first blackout to learn that forecasting without building is just a more precise way to fail.
We need to build again. House Bill 2651 would put statewide siting standards in the Municipalities Planning Code so solar, wind, and storage can actually be permitted instead of being zoned out of existence one township at a time.
Put guardrails on data centers. HB 1834 makes large loads pay their own grid costs, contribute to low-income energy assistance, disclose demand, and bring firm supply. The House passed it. The Senate buried it. Families and small businesses should not be expected to finance substations, lines, and capacity for AI campuses.
Put storage on the grid. HB 2380 would require the largest utilities to procure 3,500 MW of storage by 2033. Batteries won’t add new power, but they will cut peaks and ease congestion.
The Senate’s refusal to act on multiple House-passed consumer and reliability measures is not neutrality. It is a choice to let PJM’s scarcity problem become Pennsylvania’s blackout and rate crisis. Our state government needs to act before the lights flicker; not after families are sitting in the dark wondering why Harrisburg needed more time to get serious.
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, visit www.sierraclub.org.