September 1, 2024 - A new report says the power grid that operates in Pennsylvania is fast becoming endangered, and it blames the problem on the forced retirement of coal-fired power plants like those in Indiana County, with no suitable replacement source of energy.

The PJM Grid distributes electricity to Pennsylvania and twelve other states, and the report by an organization called Pittsburgh Works Together is titled The PJM Grid in Peril: What Would Keep the Lights On?  It says fossil fuels provide 92 percent of the power on the grid but government policy could lead to a shortage by 2030,  “if not sooner.”  Specifically, the report says Governor Josh Shapiro’s electricity proposals “could further destabilize the PJM grid, which supplies power to 65 million people and more than 20% of the U.S. economy.”

Pennsylvania is the nation’s largest exporter of power.  It supplies 86 percent of the electricity distributed by PJM.  Interestingly, 86 percent of Pennsylvania’s power s generated by natural gas and nuclear plants, with coal supplying only ten percent.

A separate PJM report in June predicted that while supply is going down, demand for electricity will increase significantly by 2040, an expected eight percent but perhaps as high as 18 percent, and there is no plan in place to increase production.