PJM Builds Out T&D, but Halts Some Fossil-Fuel Unit Closures

January 12, 2024--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--PJM Interconnection LLC (PJM), an organization that operates the transmission and distribution (T&D) system that services much of the eastern-central U.S., earlier this week asked Talen Energy (Houston, Texas) to postpone the retirement of four fossil fuel-fired units at its H.A. Wagner Generating Station near Baltimore, Maryland, by three years. Although PJM's board approved $5 billion in transmission projects in December to bolster the system's reliability, it says the Wagner units will need to remain operational until the upgrades are completed, which is expected around 2028. br>
Industrial Info is tracking more than $2 billion in active and planned projects from Talen, and more than $11 billion worth of T&D projects in the PJM service area. Talen announced in 2020 it would cease coal-fired operations at the Wagner plant by the end of 2025. Last year, Talen announced it would retire three oil-fired units and a natural gas combustion turbine unit at Wagner by June 2025; these four units have a combined generating capacity of 844 megawatts (MW).

Other companies featured: TeraWulf Incorporated, Dominion Energy Incorporated (NYSE:D), FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE), PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) and NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE).