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Michael McLean's avatar

If you thought the 2025 PJM capacity auction was rough, just wait until you see what is about to happen for 2026.

The solar lobby and groups like CUB are quick to point out that PJM has a big and slow interconnection queue, but they won't tell you that solar, which makes up most of the queue, is one of the least valuable resources in the capacity auction. The ELCC is ~10%, and over time that will fall. So not only are we phasing out gigawatts of dispatchable firm resources, we are trying to replace them with something that is significantly inferior. All while load growth is exploding. Its a recipe for significantly higher prices, which will hurt lower income folks the most.

https://www.pjm.com/-/media/DotCom/planning/res-adeq/elcc/2026-27-bra-elcc-class-ratings.pdf

A good City That Works follow up to this would be a proposal for Illinois to exit PJM altogether.... We were our own balancing authority until Enron came around and 'deregulated' us. We have more than enough power to satisfy our own demand. The ComEd zone is a net-exporter of electricity every second of the year. Its the wider PJM region that aren't pulling their own weight, especially the mid-atlantic zones.

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Ken Kovar's avatar

Who would have thought that one of the oldest high tech industry, nuclear power would be saved by the latest , AI???

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