PJM RELEASES SUMMER RELIABILITY ASSESSMENT
(Valley Forge, Pa. – May 8, 2017) – The operator of the nation’s largest electric grid, PJM
Interconnection, says it has enough power to meet anticipated peak demand and keep the region’s
65 million consumers cool this summer. That’s good news, because meteorologists anticipate aboveaverage
temperatures this season.
As part of its annual summer assessment, PJM planners and operators predict that hot summer
weather is expected to drive electricity use to a peak of 153,000 megawatts – enough to power as
many as 153 million homes.
“PJM is continually planning to meet the region’s needs years in advance, coordinating
transmission upgrades with our members, embracing newer and efficient technologies and
ensuring that the power supply is secure and reliable,” said Andy Ott, president and CEO of PJM.
PJM’s mission is to meet that electricity need by procuring enough resources to satisfy peak demand
plus required reserves at the lowest reasonable cost through its competitive markets and working
with its members to ensure the grid can reliably move power to where it’s needed now and years
from now.
“Our members do a great job of maintaining strong transmission, generation and distribution
systems that deliver all of this power to their customers, and our operators stand ready to make sure
the power flows where it’s needed most,” said Mike Bryson, vice president-Operations.
PJM also enhanced the reliability of the power supply by instituting a new market construct that
holds generators to stricter, no-excuses standards to deliver the electricity they promised.
