Runner-up · Energy infrastructure · Data centers
FERC approves PJM registry for large power loads.
Federal regulators accepted PJM's Large Load Registry but rejected its proposed interim service for connecting and curtailing new large loads, separating demand transparency from the contested operating framework.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission accepted tariff revisions establishing PJM's Large Load Registry, a shared database for data centers and other large electricity users across the grid operator's 13-state and Washington, D.C., footprint. PJM attributes 30 gigawatts of its forecast 32-gigawatt demand growth through 2030 to data centers.
FERC rejected the associated Interim Resource Adequacy Service provisions that would have offered a path for large loads bringing new supply or accepting constrained service. The order directs PJM to file compliant registry language by November 8. The registry creates an operating record for demand planning, but it does not itself connect a campus, build generation or settle who pays for new infrastructure.
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What changed
PJM had proposed the registry and an interim service in August, and its earlier large-load review was already testing project commitments. The new order converts the registry from a proposal into an accepted tariff component while explicitly rejecting the broader service design, requiring PJM to proceed with transparency but revise the contested connection framework.
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Why it matters
Grid plans can overstate demand when the same campus appears in multiple utility forecasts or projects lack land, financing and equipment commitments. A common registry can make those assumptions visible to PJM, utilities and regulators before customers fund generation and transmission for speculative loads. The partial rejection also matters operationally: data centers cannot rely on the proposed interim service as filed, so connection and curtailment rules remain unsettled. The value of the registry will depend on required fields, update discipline and whether PJM uses verified milestones to change forecasts and procurement.
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What to watch
Watch PJM's November 8 compliance filing, the final registry fields and access rules, treatment of duplicate projects, required evidence of commercial readiness, state-regulator use, and a revised large-load service proposal. The decisive metric will be how registered demand differs from forecast and energized megawatts.
Why it was a runner-up
The order is binding and affects a 67-million-person grid, but it changes planning and disclosure before it produces new capacity or a measured reliability outcome.
Impact: 86/100 · Confidence: 93/100
FERC's docket records the order accepting tariff revisions in part and rejecting them in part, PJM publishes the registry design and compliance deadline, and Reuters independently describes the operational split. Confidence is high in the order; registry implementation and its planning effect remain unmeasured.
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