Statement from the PA Solar Center regarding PJM’s power capacity auction for 2026-27

July 23, 2025

Statement from the PA Solar Center: “The federal attempt to kill renewables will make PJM’s projected energy prices even worse in the future”

Nonprofit says that situation will grow worse due to construction of energy-dependent data centers in Pittsburgh and assault on clean energy tax benefits by the President and Congress

Statewide, PA – The following is a statement from Sharon Pillar, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Solar Center, regarding the PJM Interconnection’s power capacity auction for 2026-27, which will translate into an energy price increase of up to 5 percent for most Pennsylvanians. That increase is on top of last year’s increase of 10% or more in most electric distribution utilities, and it could further mount to include other rising costs in coming years.

“Make no mistake – the high prices projected by PJM’s power capacity auction for 2026-27 will be even worse in the following years as a result of the federal budget bill recently passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump that seeks to stymie renewable energy and energy efficiency. With the exception of Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, all of Pennsylvania’s Republican Congressional delegation voted for this energy rate increase, ignoring a multitude of warnings and research-based evidence from the energy industry and consumer advocates.

Power capacity pricing is the cost our electric grid pays for large power generators to be available to supply power in the years following the auction, especially during peak energy moments, like during sweltering summer heat or in the middle of a winter deep freeze. Solar power, batteries, and energy efficiency measures have been proven to help reduce this peak energy usage, keeping prices down for all consumers by reducing the amount of expensive (and dirty) power needed from these generators. For example, during the hottest day of the recent heat wave, New England’s power grid was able to avert blackouts and save consumers more than $8 million in one day because thousands of smaller solar power systems and a growing network of batteries reduced demand from the power grid.

However, President Trump and Congressional Republicans slashed incentives for investments in solar, energy efficiency, and other sources of renewable energy, which will make it more difficult to build more of the cheapest energy sources like solar and wind that save consumers money. At the same time, President Trump and Senator McCormick announced their plans to build power-thirsty data centers in the Pittsburgh region, which will drive up demand and prices for energy even more. They indicated plans to build more nuclear reactors and gas turbine plants to help meet energy demand created by these data centers, but those build-outs will take at least seven years – or may never materialize because of the enormous cost to build them – while solar would take less than half of that time.

In the meantime, as PJM’s capacity auction has shown, consumers will pay the price. So we should be building more cheap, clean energy, not less.”

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