Resources
Regulatory Roadmap for Implementing FERC Order 2222 in the District of Columbia
Prepared for the DC Department of Energy and Environment.
The District of Columbia sits within the PJM Interconnection regional transmission operator (RTO) and imports approximately 96% of its power from outside DC. PJM is currently facing significant challenges driven by rapid load growth—particularly from data centers and artificial intelligence facilities—while simultaneously managing generator retirements, interconnection backlogs, and delays in bringing new resources online. These pressures have contributed to tightening reserve margins and rising capacity prices, which have led to dramatically rising regional electricity prices throughout the PJM region, underscoring the importance for the District in leveraging local technologies and resources to reduce energy costs.
My Articles on Data Center Electric Usage
Published in 2001
During the booming dot.com era around 2000, the need for data centers increased significantly and concerns were raised about the amount of electricity that these data centers would consume. Thomas Grahame and David Kathan published three articles in 2001, one in Electrical World and two in Broadband Wireless Business, on data center electrical consumption and raised important policy questions about how the then build out of data centers would impact the electric grid. While the references to data center electrial usage and and size are outdated, many of the policy issues and solutions discussed are even more relevant 25 years later.
Value of Demand-Side Resources in Maryland
Prepared for the Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club
Maryland and the PJM region are currently expected to face a resource shortage in the near future unless new resources are able to come on-line quickly. The combination of the retirement of fossil-fuel power plants and projected rapid growth in electric demand has created a need for additional resources to meet demand. In its development of policies to meet this demand, Maryland should fully exploit and utilize demand-side resources in the state prior to investing heavily in new generation.
This white paper reviews demand-side resources, their potential to obviate the need for new generation, and recommends demand response policies for Maryland.
