Two weeks ago, PJM Interconnection LLC shared an alert that many on social media turned intentionally or unintentionally into unnecessary scare posts. The organization, which manages the electric grid in 13 states, operates between the Atlantic and the Mississippi, and between Virginia’s southern border and Pennsylvania’s northern. Its mission lies in ensuring grid reliability while also keeping costs down as low as possible.
The alert was intended for certain select customers who had agreed to reduce their power consumption during peak times. This list ranges from residential to large commercial customers. They receive a benefit for the voluntary move. Also, PJM’s diligence prevented the need to ask all customers to swelter in the heat without benefit of sufficient air conditioning, as New York State asked its system customers to do.
The same alert was issued in June of 2025 with the added request of electric power companies to defer scheduled maintenance of lines and other infrastructure until maximum levels of demand decreased somewhat.
While not an emergency in the short term, these alerts indicate a long-term problem. Power demand has increased dramatically in the 21st century. While data centers are the popular target of blame, long-term consumer trends have driven the problem as well.
For example, in the 1980s and 90s, most at-home recreation did not require electric power. The rise of high capacity systems for video gaming and also the increased need of more powerful computing for professional and business needs drove demand up sharply before the common use of artificial intelligence and its increased need for expanding infrastructure of data centers.
Also in the past two decades, the Mountain State has seen extraordinary success in adding large-scale manufacturing across the state, from Proctor and Gamble and Clorox in Berkeley County to the Nucor steel mill near Point Pleasant. These have driven the state economy forward and have brought thousands of jobs and significant tax revenues to state and local governments, but also add to electric power demand as well.
Within the PJM system the Valley North project, as Valley Link explains, will bring added capacity to grid infrastructure. This will mitigate the burdens brought by increasing demand and hold off the threat of mandatory power reduction for all customers or grid shutdowns.
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation serves as a non profit entity that observes and reports on the different grid systems, such as PJM Interconnection, that serve North America north of the Mexican – U.S. border. It issued a report in January on the long-term grid reliability for PJM, given current conditions.
Through the end of 2028, PJM is rated as seeing “elevated risk.” To that entity, that describes “a region where resource adequacy criteria are technically met, but planned power resources are likely to result in energy shortfalls or operating challenges during extreme peak conditions” such as PJM faced in the first week of July.
Starting in 2029 PJM, if current capacity is not expanded, is expected to enter the “high-risk” realm as power demand starts to outstrip grid capacity. This “increases the risk of load loss or rolling blackouts during extreme weather or periods of high electricity demand.”
PJM Interconnection relies heavily on power production in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrissey’s 50 by 50 plan to expand electric power production would make the Mountain State part of the solution in meeting those needs and also helping to stabilize grid capacity for the long term.
West Virginia, through PJM, is in the same pool of production and consumption as the other states in the system.
Lauren Siburkis, a spokesperson for Valley Link, explained the need for the project and also the positive impacts it could bring to local communities along the planned lines. The company is holding open houses in each county that will host a section of the project.
She explained that “the Valley North Project is designed to move electricity to where it’s needed most across West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland.” Added capacity is critical, she states, because “demand continues to grow rapidly due to new industries, technology, and population needs our existing grid is being pushed closer to its limits.”
Along with NERC and PJM, Siburkis confirms that failure to add to capacity will cause a higher “risk of service interruptions, voltage issues, and even broader outages over time.” She compares the electric grid to the highways system in that a major transmission line serves the same purpose as an interstate highway or Appalachian Corridor project. It allows “traffic” to move more efficiently and also avoid local “congestion” that could cause customers problems in high peak demand periods.
Not adding more capacity to address rising power demand would have the same effect of not improving highway systems when a community adds population and business over time.
“One of the most common misconceptions,” stated Siburkus, “is that this project is simply ‘pass-through’ infrastructure that doesn’t benefit West Virginia or local communities. That is not accurate.” Primarily, it will provide a “foundation” for growth locally and more broadly while adding capacity to maintain reliable service overall.
Siburkis also shared that the project will “create both short-term and long-term economic benefits for the communities they serve.” First, “transmission infrastructure contributes to local tax bases that help essential public services.” The company operating the lines pays taxes that support schools and county needs such as fire, EMS, basic infrastructure, and other needs.
She added that “industry and federal research shows that every one dollar invested in infrastructure can generate up to $1.50 to $2.50 in broader economic activity, a dynamic called in economics “the multiplier effect.”
Construction will require hundreds of workers from a broad spectrum of fields whose money will go into the local economy. Over the long-term, compensation to landowners hosting parts of the infrastructure will continue to add to economic growth. Though not on the same scale, a year of major natural gas pipeline construction in Jackson County several years ago gave it the biggest economic boost of any county in the nation.
Connection to these lines “helps connect communities to commerce and opportunity.” Companies seeking to expand or invest, she explained, will prefer a local area with access to reliable power.
Valley Link’s schedule of open houses, Siburkus explained, gives local residents “in all potentially affected areas (an opportunity to) participate in the public open house process where they can review preliminary routes, speak directly with project representatives, and provide feedback that will help inform future decisions.” The process will include “early” and transparent communication, one-on-one work with landowners, gathering local information to reduce or mitigate potential impacts and adjusting when needed, and providing fair compensation.
Siburkus added that the company will take into account environmental, cultural, historical, and community impact while making final determinations along its routes.
“Our goal,” she stated, “is to be open about these real challenges and the role this project plays in addressing them so that people are informed, not alarmed.”
