PJM Interconnection, the grid operator serving 13 states and Washington D.C., is pursuing reforms to its generation interconnection process after years of project delays and cancellations left thousands of megawatts of proposed capacity stuck in a growing queue. The grid operator has proposed new rules designed to speed approvals and reduce the number of speculative projects clogging the process. Data center load growth has intensified pressure on PJM to move faster, as new facilities requiring hundreds of megawatts face multi-year waits for grid connections.
PJM's interconnection queue dysfunction has become a direct brake on data center development in the mid-Atlantic and Midwest, and any meaningful reform would affect when and where large AI campuses can actually come online. The outcome of these rule changes will set a precedent for how the largest U.S. grid operator manages the tension between legacy utility planning and rapid demand growth.
PJM as a named grid operator, interconnection reform, and the connection to AI data center load triggered selection. This story was not in the already-published list despite prior PJM auction cost coverage, because it addresses the structural interconnection process rather than auction pricing.