BALTIMORE (WBFF) — The debate over the proposed 70-mile transmission line has brought Maryland’s “dire” energy situation into the forefront over the last year. Even as state lawmakers have been working to address it, the future of Maryland’s grid remains unclear.
During the legislative session, Maryland lawmakers passed several bills, aimed to increase the amount of energy generated in the state, as well as provide relief to residents amid rising energy bills. To date, Governor Wes Moore has not yet signed the legislation into law.
While Democratic leaders largely supported the legislation, several Republican lawmakers, like Senator Stephen Hershey, argued the legislation did not go far enough.
ALSO READ | As transmission case heads to court, some residents push for stronger action from Governor
Following the session, Sen. Hershey said, “I think they failed dramatically to address the resource adequacy requirements that the state of Maryland has.”
While the outcome and future impacts of the legislation remains to be seen, during the last legislative session as officials with PJM described the energy outlook in Maryland as “dire,” lawmakers also pointed to a lack of planning from PJM, the regional grid operator.
Currently Maryland imports about 40 percent of its energy from neighboring states. In addition to power plants retiring, energy demands have sharply increased due to data centers and electrification.
“There is not a single policy anyone can point to that shuts down coal plants, and there is not a single policy anyone can point to that shuts down or keeps gas plants from coming online,” Del. Lorig Charkoudian, said during a legislative hearing earlier this year.
“Yet, the thing that is actually keep new generation from coming online we can point to…. it’s PJM’s inability and unwillingness to plan,” she added.
ALSO READ | Baltimore County leaders pass solar legislation in the wake of state bills
A joint letter from the Governors of Delaware, Illinois, Maryland and New Jersey, sent earlier this year reads, “Our states see first-hand how delays in PJM’s interconnection process make it difficult for new generation and storage projects, including those with contracts supported by state incentives, to reach market.”
“PJM plans for 20 years in the future, so we are planning the grid not only now, but 20 years into the future, and that takes into account obviously a lot of variables,” Jason Stanek, the Executive Director of PJM Interconnection said in January. “We did not necessarily expect this dramatic load growth that we’ve seen over the past 12 to 24 months, we’ll continue to make adjustments as we go forward.”
While a spokesperson for PJM said PJM has been “warning for the past several years of a growing risk of not having enough electricity to support surging demand,” they also said they are currently working to address energy projects in the queue.
“PJM’s new Cycle process for projects seeking to interconnect with the system will begin in spring 2026, with a process time of one to two years. With our stakeholders we’re also exploring a Provisional Interconnection Service process that would permit developers to connect faster if they are willing to take on the risk of further studies identifying necessary system upgrades. Depending on the project, this could shorten the study process by 6 to 12 months. There are currently about 47 GW of mostly renewable generation projects that have received clearance from PJM to plug into the grid and are attempting to do so while facing challenges related to supply chain, financing and state/local siting and permitting,” a spokesperson said.
“In addition, we just entered into a collaboration with Google/Tapestry to utilize artificial intelligence to make this process even quicker. So, we’ve done what we’ve needed to do to clear the backlog, and we’re going to make this process even quicker going forward,” they continued to say.
ALSO READ | ‘It’s highly problematic:’ Energy ads spark concern in transmission line fight
In a recent release, PJM said they selected 51 projects that can come online quickly, as part of the Reliability Resource Initiative.
“The projects consist of 39 uprates and 12 new construction proposals. The uprates apply to existing natural gas, nuclear, coal and onshore wind resources. Of the new projects, half are gas, five are batteries and one is nuclear,” the release said.
PJM said 90%, are expected to be online by 2030 and all are projected to be online by 2031.