Regulatory consistency, retirement of dispatchable generation, and “generational” load growth were top of mind at the Electric Power Supply Association’s fourth annual Competitive Power Summit.
EPSA was joined by state and federal regulators, industry leaders, grid operators, and more during the day-long event. Panelists discussed how electrification, manufacturing growth, and artificial intelligence-driven data center development is shaping policy and investment decisions in competitive power markets across the country.
For over two decades, competitive power markets have met demand reliably and affordably while driving adaptation and innovation. Markets remain the best way to protect consumers while incentivizing the investments that our grid requires to meet this moment.
Key Topics:
- Generation Retirements: The North American Electric Reliability Corporation expects 115 GW of generation retirements by 2035, driven largely by public policy decisions. These retirements are happening even as winter peak demand grows by as much as 150 GW. Today, more than half of the U.S. is at risk of resource energy adequacy issues.
- Load Growth: Grid operators continue to sound the alarm about expected load growth in the coming years and independent power producers are already answering the call, having announced thousands of megawatts and millions of dollars in new investments and proposals in key regions. PJM is expecting regional load to grow by 32 GW by 2030 according to Manu Asthana, PJM’s president and CEO.
- Consistency: Regulators, grid operators, and industry executives had a shared message: consistent price signals and policies create investment certainty and help bring more capacity on the grid more quickly. Uncertainty from rapid policy changes and market rule shifts increases investment risk.
- Co-location: Building generation alongside large energy consumers such as data centers is one approach to meeting the growing demand. FERC Commissioner Lindsay See highlighted the need for different perspectives to come together in order to ensure co-location is done right.
- Gas-electric coordination: As the demand for reliable and affordable power grows, natural gas has become an essential source of baseload power. FERC commissioners focused on the need for more gas infrastructure and stronger gas-electric coordination.
What They’re Saying:
“Load growth isn’t coming. It’s already here, and by all accounts, it’s going to be an issue that we have to deal with for years to come.” – Todd Snitchler, President and CEO, EPSA
“Markets, in places where we have them in the country, have delivered value to consumers…What’s great about markets? It allows us to do more with less.” – David Rosner, FERC Commissioner
“[NY] Policy and climate legislation stipulate that supply needs to be reliable and 100% of the supply needs to be carbon free by 2040…Economic development goals and policy goals are on a collision course” – Rich Dewey, President and CEO, NYISO
“If we are going to prioritize reliability, we need to have an honest conversation about which resources provide that to customers.” – Jim Burke, President and CEO Vistra Corp.
“This unprecedented demand for cloud services is expanded when you consider demand for AI. This is a highly competitive moment for our industry and the United States. There are national security, economic growth, and global competitiveness implications to support this development.” – Aaron Tinjum, Vice President of Energy, Data Center Coalition
“Our projection is 55% demand growth between now and 2050, about 2% per year… The vast majority of that demand over the next 10 years is from datacenters and AI. After that, we see a lot of growth from the industrial sector and e-mobility.” – Debra Phillips, President and CEO, National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA)
“There has to be a sense of predictability from one case to another. It’s important from a fundamental fairness standpoint, but also from the ability to make competent investment decisions in a changing regulatory environment.” – Lindsay See, FERC Commissioner
“Over the next ten years, the level of peak demand growth that we anticipate across all regions is 132 GW in the summer and 150 GW in the winter. At the same time, we anticipate 115 GW of generation retirements… The system will be running very tight.” – Camilo Serna, Senior Vice President, Strategy and External Engagement, NERC
“We are in a time of unprecedented uncertainty. PJM has 30 GW of datacenter growth between 2024 and 2030. At the same time, we are seeing policy-driven retirements. The industry is dealing with a lot of unknowns…We need significant investment in gas infrastructure in addition to reforms around gas-electric coordination. As an industry, we need to find a way to accelerate the pace of getting accredited capacity deployed and online.” – Manu Asthana, President and CEO, PJM
“Policy-driven retirements were the reality up until 2022. We’ve deferred retirements… to tread water and stay at the minimum. So that’s the solution that will get some near to mid-term benefits, but we will need to find a way to get new capacity online.” – Todd Ramey, Senior Vice President of Markets and Digital Strategy, MISO
The Takeaway:
As demand for electricity increases amid electrification, increased manufacturing, and the buildout of data centers, competitive power providers are answering the call with reliable and cost-effective generation. EPSA continues to advocate for greater electric-gas coordination, stronger regulatory certainty, and policies that keep essential generation resources online while attracting new investment.
