White House pushes emergency PJM auction as data centers drive grid strain
The White House urged PJM Interconnection to hold an emergency power auction to prevent outages as data-center-driven demand grows faster than new generation, proposing a BYOG model where centers fund and own new capacity. PJM unveiled a competing plan requiring data centers to bring online new generation or face potential curtailment during peak periods, amid rising electricity prices and political backlash over grid reliability.