PJM, the largest US power grid, issues alerts when storms increase energy demand

The largest U.S. grid PJM announced on Tuesday that it had issued additional alerts to transmission & generation firms, as a'monster winter -storm' looked to be bringing unprecedented energy demand.

The operator, who serves 13 states and District of Columbia, sent out Maximum Generation and Load?alerts to companies, asking them to determine if maintenance or testing could be postponed or cancelled to keep the units online during this critical period.

These alerts let other systems 'know' that PJM could'reduce its electricity exports.

The storm?dumped one foot of snow between New Mexico and New England. It paralyzed most of the east coast of the U.S.

PJM said it expects the peak demand to be greater than 130,000 megawatts for seven consecutive days. This is a winter streak that it has never experienced.

The operator has said that depending on the temperatures, it could set "a new record for winter peak" on Tuesday. This is partly due to the data center's electricity requirements. Overall demand, which was predicted at 147.2 Gigawatts will be above the previous winter demand record of 143.7 GW, set in January 2025. (Reporting by Ishaan Arora; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

(source: Reuters)