DOE Issues Emergency Grid Order for PJM as Region Nears Reserve Limit; No Conservation Call Yet for NJ

The U.S. Department of Energy issued an emergency order on Monday, Oct. 12, letting PJM Interconnection, the grid operator that serves New Jersey, run power plants that would otherwise be limited by their environmental permits. The order also lets PJM call on backup generators as a last resort if the grid comes close to rolling outages. It runs through Friday, Oct. 16.

DOE Order No. 202-26-50, issued under Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, came at PJM’s request. In its Oct. 11 application, PJM said it was “forecasted to be within 900 MW of its reserve margin on October 14, 2026.”

The numbers PJM gave DOE

• Forecast demand “at or around 111,500 MW (or higher)” on Oct. 13.
• Generation outages “anticipated to reach around 61,591 MW” across the region, mostly planned work during the fall maintenance season. PJM also cited numerous planned transmission outages.
• Within 900 MW of its reserve margin on Oct. 14.
• For comparison, PJM pointed to Sept. 17, when demand peaked at 127,729 MW with 33,899 MW of generation out. That is 27,692 MW less than the outages expected now.

PJM said the strain is worst in the BGE, PEPCO and Dominion zones, which cover Maryland, Washington D.C. and Virginia, and on transmission lines that carry power north to south and between PJM and the neighboring MISO grid. The application does not name New Jersey as a problem area.

What the order allows

Under the order, PJM may dispatch the generating units on DOE’s list “only as needed to maintain reliability.” It may also direct backup generators, including battery storage, to run “as a last resort before declaring an EEA 3 (i.e., before firm load interruption) or during an EEA 3.” EEA 3 is the highest level of energy emergency, the stage at which grid operators can order rolling outages. The order exempts backup generators at hospitals, 911 centers, water and wastewater plants, first responders and similar critical sites. In an Oct. 13 notice, PJM said the order “does not constitute a directive to operate at maximum output or full load.”

What PJM has done so far

• Oct. 11: PJM recalled all generator maintenance outages. Plant owners have until noon Wednesday, Oct. 14, to finish the work, or the outages will be counted as forced outages.
• Oct. 12 and 13: PJM issued a Maximum Generation Emergency/Load Management Alert, rated NERC EEA 1, for all of Tuesday, Oct. 13. At 4:44 p.m. Tuesday it issued another for all of Wednesday, Oct. 14.
• Oct. 13: At 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., PJM dispatched demand response, meaning large customers that are paid to cut their power use. That included the PSEG zone, which covers Hudson County, and the JCP&L (FE-JC) zone.

As of 8:20 p.m. Tuesday, PJM’s emergency-procedures site showed no voltage reduction, manual load dump or load shed warnings for New Jersey, and no public call for residents to conserve.

What it means for Hudson County

Hudson County’s electricity comes through PSE&G, which sits in PJM’s PSEG zone. As of Tuesday evening, PSE&G and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities had not posted any statement or conservation request about this week’s grid conditions on their newsrooms. An EEA 1 alert means PJM is using every available resource. It does not mean outages are expected. If conditions get worse, PJM’s next steps include more demand response, voltage reductions and, only at EEA 3, rotating outages.

To report an outage, PSE&G customers can call 1-800-436-7734. Hudson TV will update this story if PJM, PSE&G or the BPU issues a conservation request.