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Freedom251 › Blog › Capacity Market

What PJM’s Data Center Database Means for Grid Planning and Electricity Prices

By Freedom251 Team · · 9 min read

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PJM’s proposed Large Load Registry is intended to give planners a more reliable picture of very large electricity requests, including data centers. That information can improve capacity-market and transmission decisions, but the registry itself is not proven to lower household bills or raise them by a specific amount. Its final fields, reporting rules, confidentiality provisions and public-access terms remain dependent on the operative tariff and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s final implementation details.

What PJM’s Large Load Registry is—and what it is not

PJM Interconnection proposed a Large Load Registry in the same tariff filing that proposed Interim Resource Adequacy Service. The filing is identified in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s eLibrary record as docket ER26-3515, submitted on August 13, 2026, with a proposed effective date of October 12, 2026.

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FERC’s October 9, 2026 docket entry says the commission accepted tariff revisions in part and rejected them in part. That description establishes that the filing did not receive an unconditional, complete approval. The docket summary alone does not establish which registry provisions survived, so it would be inaccurate to describe a fully operational public database, or to assert specific reporting fields, thresholds, update intervals or access rights without consulting the operative tariff and order text.

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The registry’s practical purpose is visibility. A very large proposed load can affect how PJM estimates future demand, evaluates whether enough generating capacity will be available, and determines whether high-voltage transmission upgrades may be needed. Recording requests in a consistent process could also reduce the chance that the same speculative project is counted more than once or remains in a forecast after its development prospects have weakened.

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Why data-center requests matter to PJM’s planning process

The long-term load forecast

PJM describes its long-term load forecast as a 15-year projection available by zone, load-deliverability area and the regional transmission organization as a whole. The forecast is not a promise that every projected megawatt will appear. It is an estimate that changes as economic conditions, project schedules, customer commitments and observed electricity use change.

PJM’s Learning Center explains that the long-term forecast is a major input to the Reliability Pricing Model, commonly called the capacity market. The same forecast is used in the Regional Transmission Expansion Plan, which evaluates high-voltage transmission enhancements as far as 15 years into the future. A registry therefore connects large-load information to two different planning questions: how much dependable supply the market should procure, and where the transmission system may need reinforcement.

Supply and wires are separate decisions

Capacity procurement addresses whether enough qualified resources are available to meet expected demand plus reliability reserves. Transmission planning addresses whether electricity can move from resources to the places where customers need it under normal and stressed conditions. A data center can affect both, but a registry entry does not automatically authorize a power plant, a transmission line or a capacity purchase.

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For example, a proposed campus may be counted differently as it moves from an early inquiry to a site with permits, signed interconnection agreements, equipment orders and a credible energization schedule. A planning system that distinguishes those stages can produce a more realistic forecast than one that treats every early request as equally certain.

How large is the projected growth?

PJM’s 2026 forecast materials and its 2027/2028 Shortfall Paper describe substantial expected demand growth. The figures below are forecasts or attributed estimates, not measurements of load already operating.

Measure Published figure How to read it
Annualized summer peak-load growth over the next 20 years 2.4% PJM’s 2026 forecast, as reported in the 2027/2028 Shortfall Paper. PJM’s 2025 forecast had reported 2% over the same horizon.
Projected summer peak growth over 15 years Approximately 82 GW, reaching 239 GW PJM projection reported in the 2026 shortfall paper; it is not a guarantee that all 82 GW will materialize.
Data centers’ estimated share of PJM peak-load growth by 2030 About 30 GW of roughly 32 GW PJM estimate recounted in a FERC filing dated May 7, 2026.
Estimated share of total U.S. electricity generation from data centers by 2028 6.7%–12% Berkeley Lab estimate from 2024, cited in PJM’s 2027/2028 Shortfall Paper. It is a national estimate, not a PJM-only forecast.

The difference between a forecast and realized demand is central. A project can be delayed, downsized, cancelled, served by a different location or designed with flexible operations. Conversely, a cluster of projects can advance faster than expected. Registry information is useful only if it is updated as that uncertainty changes.

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How a registry could influence electricity prices

Capacity-auction prices

The PJM Independent Market Monitor estimated that data-center load increased prices by more than $6.5 billion in the most recent PJM capacity auction and by more than $23 billion across the previous three auctions. Those amounts, published January 5, 2026 and recounted in a May 7, 2026 FERC filing, describe estimated effects on capacity-auction prices. They are not a bill sent to each household, and they do not measure a causal effect from creating the Large Load Registry.

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Capacity-market costs can eventually appear in retail supply charges, depending on a customer’s utility, state rules, contract structure and the way auction costs are allocated. The cited totals cannot be converted into a uniform dollar increase for every customer. They also should not be treated as evidence that a registry will reverse the increase.

Transmission and interconnection costs

Large projects can trigger studies, network upgrades and additional transmission requirements. If a forecast understates a durable load, PJM may face reliability pressure and less time to site, permit and build facilities. If it overstates speculative requests, customers may be asked to fund capacity or wires that are not needed on the expected schedule.

A better registry could improve the timing and quality of those decisions by showing which projects are credible, where they are located, when they expect service and how their demand may change. That is a planning benefit, not a guaranteed price reduction. Construction costs, financing, fuel prices, market conditions and regulatory decisions would still affect customer rates.

Why better information can cut either way

More accurate information does not inherently produce lower prices. If validated projects reveal a larger firm load than previously recognized, PJM could need more capacity or transmission, increasing near-term procurement or construction costs. If the registry removes duplicate or speculative requests, it could prevent unnecessary investment and reduce future cost pressure. The direction depends on what the verified information shows and how rules assign resulting costs.

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What PJM and FERC have said about uncertainty and responsibility

A PJM statement quoted in the May 2026 FERC filing says there is “growing uncertainty around the accuracy of forward load forecasts because of the unprecedented nature of data center load growth,” along with a need to examine who should bear the risk when forecasts are wrong in either direction. That concern explains why registry design matters as much as the existence of a database.

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On June 18, 2026, FERC directed all six regional transmission organizations and independent system operators under its jurisdiction to justify or reform large-load tariff rules. The release discussed efficient applications and studies for transmission service, preventing cost shifting and improving transparency into transmission costs, co-location and behind-the-meter generation, flexible-load transmission service, and generation serving electrically proximate large loads.

Those topics are broader than one registry. They address how large customers connect, how their service is studied, whether they can reduce or shift demand, and which customers pay for facilities built to serve them.

In a September 29, 2026 concurrence concerning PJM’s Reliability Backstop Procurement, Commissioner See wrote that “customers that drive new costs should bear appropriate responsibility for them.” That is a commissioner’s policy statement accompanying a separate proceeding, not the complete holding of the Large Load Registry order. Commissioners Rosner and See also issued separate statements emphasizing zone-level cost responsibility, forecasting and the roles of states and retail authorities.

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The regulatory timeline readers should track

  1. August 13, 2026: PJM’s ER26-3515 filing proposed Interim Resource Adequacy Service and a Large Load Registry, with an October 12 proposed effective date.
  2. September 29, 2026: Separate commissioner statements in a PJM reliability-backstop matter highlighted forecasting and cost allocation.
  3. October 9, 2026: FERC’s docket index recorded an order accepting tariff revisions in part and rejecting them in part.

The October 9 entry is important because it prevents a simple “FERC approved the database” description. The exact operative requirements must be taken from the order and tariff provisions that control after the partial acceptance and rejection.

What is still unknown about the database

The accessible docket summaries and planning explanations do not establish the registry’s final required fields or operating rules. Before relying on a specific claim, verify the final tariff and order for:

  • the minimum load size or other threshold for reporting;
  • whether entries cover inquiries, formal applications, contracted projects or only projects at a later development stage;
  • the information required about location, timing, load shape, technology, interconnection status or flexibility;
  • how often project information must be updated and how stale entries are removed;
  • which information is confidential and which information is available to market participants, regulators or the public;
  • how duplicate, speculative or cancelled requests are identified;
  • how registry information is incorporated into forecasts, capacity procurement and transmission studies.

Until those points are confirmed, “database” should be understood as shorthand for a proposed tariff mechanism, not as proof of a searchable public website with a known data schema.

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How to judge whether the registry is working

Forecast quality

Look for evidence that a project is counted once, that its status is updated as it matures, and that forecasts are checked against actual metered demand. A high headline number is less informative than a documented process for removing projects that do not advance.

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Cost causation

Ask whether the customers or zones driving new capacity and transmission costs pay an appropriate share, and whether the allocation method accounts for the difference between a firm obligation and an uncertain request.

Reliability and flexibility

Data centers are not identical. Timing, hourly load shape, cooling needs, backup systems, co-location arrangements and credible ability to reduce or shift demand can change their effect on the grid. Rules that record only a nameplate megawatt figure may miss those distinctions.

Transparency and confidentiality

Planners need enough information to scrutinize assumptions, while developers may need protection for commercially sensitive site and contract details. The balance should be stated in the tariff rather than inferred from the registry’s name.

Planning lead time

Generation and high-voltage transmission can require years of siting, permitting, procurement and construction. A useful registry should provide information early enough to support those processes without treating an uncommitted inquiry as an assured load.

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What this means for households and businesses

Households should not expect a line on their next bill labelled “data-center database.” Retail bills combine several components, and capacity-market and transmission costs flow through utility and state mechanisms rather than through a single PJM charge visible to every customer.

The realistic consumer question is whether better planning reduces avoidable reliability and infrastructure costs over time, while ensuring that new large loads do not shift disproportionate costs onto existing customers. The registry could help with that objective if its information is accurate, current and tied to fair cost-allocation rules. It cannot by itself guarantee lower rates.

Large commercial and industrial customers should watch the final tariff for eligibility, reporting obligations, study treatment, service flexibility and cost responsibility. Those details may affect project schedules and the economics of locating new facilities, but the October 9 partial order means the proposal’s headline description is not enough to determine a customer’s obligations.

How to interpret future announcements

When PJM or FERC publishes an update, separate four questions that are often blended together:

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  1. What was recorded? A registry entry is information about a request or project, not proof that the load is operating.
  2. What was forecast? A forecast is an estimate used for planning, not a guaranteed megawatt total.
  3. What market decision followed? Capacity procurement and transmission planning are distinct actions with different timelines and cost effects.
  4. Who pays? A reported auction impact or project cost is not automatically the amount paid by each household or business.

Keeping those questions separate prevents two opposite errors: assuming every announced data center will be built, and assuming a planning registry itself determines retail electricity prices.

Bottom line

PJM’s proposed Large Load Registry matters because data-center growth is large enough to influence both capacity procurement and long-range transmission planning. A well-designed registry could make forecasts more credible, expose speculative or duplicate requests and support more defensible cost allocation. The October 9, 2026 FERC action was only partial acceptance and rejection of the tariff revisions, and the available record does not establish the final database fields, access rules or a direct effect on household bills. The strongest conclusion is therefore conditional: the registry may improve the information behind grid decisions, while its effect on electricity prices will depend on validated load, market outcomes and who is assigned the resulting costs.

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Capacity Marketdata centerselectricity pricesFERCgrid planningPJMTransmission

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