PJM Interconnection, the largest Regional Transmission Operator (RTO) in the US, is targeting up to 15GW of new generation capacity as part of an emergency auction to power growing data center demand across its footprint.

Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump, alongside 13 governors, called for the RTO to hold the auction, which would see data center companies bid on 15-year contracts for new electricity generation capacity. The bipartisan group also pushed the RTO to build more than $15 billion of reliable baseload power generation.

According to the RTO, the process will take place from September through March 2027, with PJM expected to ask how many suitors on either side have an interest in participating in bilateral negotiations. Full details of the proposal are expected to be reviewed next week, with a vote to be held in May. Following this, the plan will be submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for approval in early June. The contracts are expected to last between two and 15 years.

The plans emerge as PJM grapples with an unprecedented power shortfall. According to reports, the RTO could potentially face a power shortfall of up to 60GW. The RTO reported a 6.5GW shortfall in its latest capacity auction.

Despite the potential shortfall, there have been growing concerns about the impact that massive generation and interconnection buildouts could have on electricity bills for ratepayers in its service area. PJM, which serves 13 states across the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest, recently announced that its summer peak load will grow by 3.6 percent a year to about 222GW by 2036, driven predominantly by data center growth.

In July of last year, following the RTO’s latest annual capacity auction, where wholesale electric capacity grew 22 percent compared to the year before, reports surfaced that ratepayers across the network could begin facing spiraling bills fueled by the growth of the data center sector.