The Center Square reports on rising load growth, rising energy costs, and rising reliability issues within Pennsylvania and the broader PJM region. United's Chris D'Agostino emphasized the importance of smart integrated energy planning to help optimize utility operations and investments, meet growing energy demand, and increase energy affordability for state residents.
(The Center Square) – Pennsylvania’s electrical grid sits at a critical crossroads, buckling under the pressure of rising demand with not enough supply or time to stabilize it.
Those concerns – reliability and affordability – dominated the last year for PJM Interconnection, the regional grid operator serving 67 million people across 13 states and the District of Columbia. Long-standing generation is retiring faster than replacements can come online, while demand – driven largely by AI-powered data centers – is increasing.
The path ahead appears as uncertain as the one before it.
Energy leaders spent much of 2025 warning that Pennsylvania, and the broader PJM region, are entering an era defined by rapid load growth. Projections tied to data center expansion alone put anticipated new demand at roughly 22 to 30 GW – enough electricity for more than 10 million homes – while expected new supply is closer to 6 to 12 GW.
That widening gap has been a key driver behind record-high capacity prices, with experts warning that consumers will ultimately pay the difference through multi-year bill impacts.
Pennsylvania’s challenges are a part of a broader national story, but PJM’s near-term imbalance made the region a focal point. A separate forecast from consulting and technology firm ICF projects U.S. electricity demand will rise 25% by 2030 and as much as 78% by 2050, with peak demand growing 14% and 54% over those same periods.
Pennsylvania’s grid is among the oldest in the country, making efficiency crucial, Chris D’Agostino of Advanced Energy United told The Center Square.
Integrated energy planning, he said, while still new is viewed as a key innovation to optimize utility operations and investments. But, making overlapping electric and gas functions work together takes coordination and communication.
D’Agostino compared planning to a potluck dinner: without coordination, two people might bring the same dish. Likewise, poor coordination risks duplication of investments and unnecessary spending.
Read the full article here.