Breaking: Energy Secretary Wright Orders Grid Emergency for 13 States and D.C.

The U.S. Department of Energy declared a power grid emergency covering 13 states and the District of Columbia on Sunday, October 12, 2026. Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued the order under section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, granting PJM Interconnection temporary emergency authority to keep the regional grid stable. The emergency measures were in effect from October 13 through October 16, 2026. The order specifically allowed PJM to call on generators to run in excess of their operating permits as needed. It also authorized the grid operator to direct data centers and other large electricity users onto their backup generation if necessary.

The scope of the emergency order included Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. PJM coordinates wholesale electricity across these regions, serving approximately 67 million people. Under the order, the Department of Energy stated that PJM could deploy auxiliary, standby, directly connected, battery storage, or other generation resources. This included resources at data centers, such as hyperscaler facilities, and at other large industrial and commercial customer sites. The authority allowed PJM to direct designated generation units to produce electricity and, in limited circumstances, to use backup power reserves.

Federal officials and PJM emphasized that the order was designed to prevent interruptions rather than to announce scheduled blackouts. No blackouts occurred during the October 13 to October 16 window, and no mandatory conservation orders were issued. For households, daily electricity use stayed normal, and no action was required of consumers. The primary goal was to maintain grid stability while managing the strain placed on the system by specific weather and operational conditions.

The strain on the grid resulted from unusually warm October weather colliding with the fall shoulder season. During this period, generator and transmission owners take equipment offline for maintenance and upgrades ahead of winter. Most scheduled outages are prohibited in summer, so the summer peak period ended in mid-September. On Friday, October 9, PJM issued a Capacity Advisory for Monday, October 12, and Tuesday, October 13. This was the first use of that procedure, which PJM members endorsed in June 2026 for circumstances indicating an approaching capacity shortfall. PJM's load forecast was about 102,000 megawatts of peak demand on Monday and about 104,000 megawatts on Tuesday. This demand was set against previously scheduled generation outages of about 70,000 megawatts plus planned transmission outages.

Paul Dajewski, PJM's senior manager for dispatch, told stakeholders that this volume of outages is typical for the shoulder season. On Monday, October 12, PJM issued a Maximum Generation Alert and a Load Management Alert for October 13. The operator also extended the Capacity Advisory through October 14 and issued a Maintenance Outage Recall for that same day. This followed a forecast of demand reaching approximately 111,500 megawatts or higher. On October 13, PJM extended the alerts through October 14 and called on Demand Response programs. These programs pay customers who sign up in advance to cut electricity use when the grid is stressed. PJM stated that the alerts required no action from customers.

A Maximum Generation Alert informs transmission and generation owners that conditions will be tight, allowing them to defer or cancel equipment maintenance and testing. It also signals to neighboring grid operators that exports from PJM may be curtailed. Scheduled transmission line outages limited how much electricity could move between zones. Generation was bottled in some areas because of these transmission limits. This was particularly true for resources serving congested zones in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, which include the BGE, Pepco, and Dominion zones. On Friday, October 16, PJM issued another Capacity Advisory for Monday, October 19. The load forecast for that day was about 94,573 megawatts against expected generation outages of about 72,000 megawatts plus planned transmission outages.

PJM had previously used Department of Energy emergency orders during two unseasonably warm periods in September. These periods were August 31 to September 4 and September 15 to September 18. The orders allowed eligible resources to keep operating beyond normal limits, and PJM deployed Demand Response both times. After sunset on those days, PJM had to cover net load as solar output fell faster than electricity use. PJM notes that the shoulder-season reprieve is not what it used to be. Most of the new, rapidly growing demand comes from data centers and other energy-intensive large-load customers. Their consumption does not fall with the weather, making it a 12-month, 24/7 phenomenon.

According to PJM's Winter Outlook released on November 5, 2026, the expanding demand is outpacing new transmission and electricity supply coming onto the system. Unseasonably hot or cold weather now arrives outside the traditional peak seasons. PJM expects sufficient resources to reliably meet demand this winter under expected conditions, though reserve margins continue to tighten. The operator expects 182,426 megawatts of operational capacity to serve a forecast winter peak of approximately 147,500 megawatts. This includes about 3,200 megawatts of average exports to neighboring systems. That peak would set a new winter record if reached. Michael Bryson, PJM's senior vice president of operations, stated that the goal is to coordinate operations with owners to perform at high levels when consumers need energy the most.