Electricity generation outages on the largest power grid in the United States are expected to climb sharply as prolonged cold conditions continue to disrupt fuel supplies for gas- and coal-fired power plants.
The PJM Interconnection, which delivers electricity to roughly 67 million customers across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, projected 25.72 gigawatts (GW) of generation capacity offline on Tuesday. This represents an increase of nearly 30% compared with 19.96 GW recorded the previous day, grid data showed.
The forecast approaches the 26.1 GW outage level reached on January 22, the highest since the current cold spell began nearly two weeks ago, stretching from Boston to Washington, D.C. PJM expects outage levels to stay elevated through the remainder of the week.
Meanwhile, fuel and power prices eased slightly. Spot natural gas prices in Pennsylvania declined to $3.79 per mmBtu from $5.69 on Monday, while wholesale electricity prices in PJM’s western region covering Pennsylvania and Maryland fell to $113 per MWh, down from $196 a day earlier.