By Priya Raman

FERC cleared PJM Interconnection's plan to build a region-wide data center database covering its Midwest and Mid-Atlantic territory but rejected the operator's companion request to briefly cut power to those sites during grid emergencies. The partial ruling leaves PJM with structured load data and no emergency curtailment authority.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (the federal regulator of interstate transmission and wholesale electricity markets) approved the registry alone. PJM operates the largest Regional Transmission Organization (RTO, a multi-state coordinator of bulk power flows) in the United States.

What will the database cover?

PJM will gather site-level details from every data center operator in its footprint. The registry will capture:

• Physical location of each site
• Names of serving power providers
• Targeted in-service dates
• Load ramp-up timelines (the schedule by which facility demand rises toward full capacity)
• Backup generation capacity installed on site
• Fuel supply arrangements for backup units

The data feeds PJM's long-term transmission planning models. Until now, the operator has lacked a structured inventory of a load class expanding faster than the multi-year cycles that drive generator interconnection studies in its territory.

What did FERC decline?

The commission rejected several provisions PJM had bundled into the filing. Most consequential was the right to temporarily curtail power delivery to data centers during emergency grid events. FERC stated in its order the proposal "strayed outside the RTO's authority."

PJM may refile a revised curtailment plan, the commission noted. The agency listed multiple deficiencies the operator would need to resolve before any revised proposal could secure federal endorsement. Outstanding items include:

• Curtailment priority logic versus other industrial loads
• Compensation treatment for curtailed service
• Reconciliation with state retail-rate protections
• Demonstration that federal RTO authority covers the proposed action

The commission did not set a filing deadline.

Why does this ruling matter now?

Data center load is reshaping capacity forecasts across PJM's territory at a pace transmission builders cannot match. The operator projects data center consumption will triple by 2030, reaching 29GW within its current footprint, roughly the output of about 30 large nuclear reactors running concurrently.

Reliability stress has already surfaced. A voltage disturbance in July pulled more than 3GW of generation offline across the PJM region. Root-cause analyses remain in progress. Virginia and Ohio anchor the operator's data center density.

What else is PJM doing about the load surge?

The operator has advanced parallel measures to absorb the demand wave. In August, PJM proposed that new data center customers of 50MW or larger must fund the new generation capacity required to serve their facilities.

Several states and utilities across the region have introduced comparable cost-allocation rules that push hyperscale facilities toward self-funded generation rather than socializing the build cost across residential ratepayers.

The database is the narrow approval. The curtailment question remains open. The operator's load growth path is unchanged.