PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — As we enter the hottest days of the year this week, PJM Interconnection, the region’s power grid says it has enough capacity to meet the extra demands of this current hot spell without asking consumers to conserve electricity.
“We’re watching it. We’re coordinating with our utility partners closely. But we have the capacity to get through this heat wave,” PJM Interconnection’s Chief Communications Officer Susan Buehler told KYW Newsradio Tuesday. “PJM and its utility partners: Exelon, PECO, Atlantic City Electric, Delmarva. All of the power companies are working together and coordinating. And it looks like right now we have plenty of power."
Sizzling conditions are in the forecast, and a heat advisory is already in effect in the Philadelphia region. Forecasters say the heat will not get better for another week or so. Heat indexes could reach as high as 96 degrees on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.
After that, meteorologists expect temperatures to really crank up.
The Valley Forge-based PJM coordinates the transmission of electricity among power companies in 13 mid-Atlantic states and the District of Columbia. During the current stretch of hot weather, PJM expects peak daily demand of 150,000 megawatts, short of the 2006 record of 165,000.
Buehler says the challenge in the future is being able to meet the rising demand as aging fossil fuel plants are retired and solar and wind generation comes online.
“Our load forecast does predict an increase in demand – some of that from electric vehicles, some of that from data centers. Ohio, Virginia, New Jersey, all building data centers,” she said.
For now, though, Buehler says PJM has enough capacity and may have enough extra to send power to New York and New England if needed.