PJM CEO Manu Asthana speaks on power grid challenges

WILMINGTON—The Rotary Club of Wilmington hosted speaker Manu Asthana, President and CEO of PJM Interconnection, on Thursday. Asthana discussed the current and future state of the nation’s largest power grid.

As the overseer of a network spanning 13 states and the District of Columbia, PJM manages over 1,400 generators and 90,000 miles of high-voltage power lines, ensuring electricity reliability for millions of consumers.

The CEO highlighted 3 key challenges facing PJM

Asthana detailed three major trends affecting the power grid:

1. Early generator retirements driven by policy

Many power plants, particularly coal and nuclear facilities, are retiring ahead of schedule due to policy measures aimed at decarbonization. 

“We have seen a lot of retirements over time, but we were seeing this accelerated pace of retirements, and a lot of them were being driven by policy,” Asthana said. 

While these initiatives support climate change mitigation, they also reduce grid reliability by removing stable power sources before adequate replacements are available.

“Clearly it’s important to decarbonize climate change– federal policies that were starting to force generators in our system to retire before the end of their natural life.”

Asthana points out that these trends are happening nationally. He mentioned similar problems in Texas, the Midwest, and California, where generators are retiring early. 

He also responded to a question about the early closure of the Indian River Power Plant, which closed earlier than planned in February, in which PGM approximated $93 million in overall estimated savings. 

RELATED STORY: Indian River Power Plant to close in February

The $93 million in savings could translate to roughly $6 per month in savings for a typical consumer, Asthan explained, though the exact allocation is determined by local utility services like Delmarva.

RELATED STORY: Delmarva Power redesigns its bills

2. Slow onboarding of new generators due to supply chain constraints

Renewable energy sources like wind and solar are being integrated into the grid at a slower-than-expected pace. 

“We were having a lot of renewable, intermittent generators join, which don’t really have the same operating characteristics,” he said, “they’re better in terms of carbon emissions, but it’s much harder to manage a grid when you can’t control the dispatch off the generator.”  

Supply chain disruptions, permitting challenges, and the inherent frequency of renewable energy make balancing the grid more complex.

“So when you turn on your lights at home and the wind decides not to blow, we have to figure out how to make that all balance.” 

“And when you get a lot of wind and solar,– we’re managing the great bulk places so we can transfer energy, but it’s still harder. So we were getting these generators to come on really slow, and they had very different operating characteristics that were less optimal for us.” 

Despite these challenges, Asthan emphasized, “It’s much more efficient and cleaner to move from fossil fuels.”

3. Growing electricity demand fueled by data centers

A large increase in electricity consumption is emerging, driven in large part by artificial intelligence-driven data centers and widespread electrification.

Notably, Loudoun County, Virginia, a critical part of PJM’s network, handles 70% of the world’s internet traffic, permitting significant power supply.

“So just think of them as units. Our system has a peak load that we serve about 150 units, or 150 gigawatts. We have about 180 gigawatts of supplies.”

Reliable electricity in the digital era

As AI reshapes industries and fuels economic growth, reliable electricity has become critical in global competition. Asthana stressed the need for a stable grid and increased power supply to meet rising demands.

“This was seen as an energy transition, but it’s really an expansion—we’re electrifying everything and need sufficient supply.”

He highlighted the urgency of accelerating new energy integration through faster interconnection processes, along with Flexibility in consumption, allowing adjustments based on grid conditions and pricing.

AI and digital processes require extreme reliability, often demanding “five nines” (99.999%) uptime. While some AI tasks can be delayed during high prices or shortages, most require constant power.

Asthana remains confident of the future, “I think we can meet this demand and compete globally in AI.”