**Trump Administration and Bipartisan Governors Push for Electric Grid Reforms Amid AI Data Center Growth**
Washington — The Trump administration, alongside a bipartisan group of governors, has called for critical reforms to the largest electric grid in the country. Their aim is to ensure that the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers does not lead to increased electricity costs for consumers.
Federal and state officials recently signed a statement of principles targeting the PJM Interconnection grid. This grid serves over 67 million people across 13 Mid-Atlantic and Midwest states. The agreement urges technology companies to fund new power plants within the PJM region to accommodate the surge of AI data centers that the White House is encouraging.
According to the administration, the National Energy Dominance Council has reached a consensus with several states for over $15 billion in new power-generation projects. The statement also calls for PJM to hold an emergency capacity auction to procure this new power and protect residential customers from rising capacity prices.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum endorsed the plan near the White House at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. They were joined by Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin of Virginia and Democratic Governors Wes Moore of Maryland and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania.
Wright stated that President Trump had “asked governors across the Mid-Atlantic to come together and call upon PJM to allow America to build big reliable power plants again.” He further promised that the directives would “restore affordable and reliable electricity so American families thrive and America’s manufacturing industries once again boom.”
The PJM grid currently serves over 65 million people and operates across parts or all of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, North Carolina, Delaware, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Governors from every state in the region signed onto the statement of principles.
On Friday, the Board of Managers for PJM announced plans to address the additional load that new AI data centers are expected to place on the grid. The grid operator stated it would initiate actions immediately to secure more power and hold a backstop generation procurement process focused on short-term reliability needs.
PJM also emphasized that it expects the data center community “to play a constructive role in addressing the reliability and affordability challenges associated with the scale and pace of the forecasted load additions in the PJM region.”
The announcement reflected rare bipartisanship between the Republican White House and potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidates Governors Moore and Shapiro, both of whom have advocated for increased power supply and lower energy prices.
Governor Moore remarked, “We cannot build a 21st-century economy on an energy market that blocks new supply. This moment calls for urgency. Maryland families and businesses must be served by a reliable grid without shouldering the cost of sky-high energy bills.”
Governor Shapiro, who sued PJM in 2024 to prevent price hikes, noted his ongoing collaboration with fellow governors and federal officials to push for grid reforms. He said, “I’m glad the White House is following Pennsylvania’s lead and adopting the solutions we’ve been pushing for.”
This developing partnership marks a significant step towards modernizing the region’s energy infrastructure in the face of growing demands from emerging technologies like AI.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ai-plants-pjm-energy-prices-governors/