WASHINGTON—U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright issued an emergency order to minimize the risk of energy shortfalls in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Secretary Wright’s order directs PJM Interconnection (PJM), in coordination with Constellation Energy, to ensure Units 3 and 4 of the Eddystone Generating Station in Pennsylvania remain available for operation. Ensuring these units remain operational minimizes the risk of generation shortfall that could lead to unnecessary power outages.
“With unprecedented energy demand and resource retirements outpacing new generation additions, the country is facing an energy emergency. Today’s order proves that the Trump Administration is dedicated to confronting this critical issue,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. “This administration considers power outages and soaring energy costs to be unacceptable.”
As outlined in DOE’s Grid Reliability Evaluation, power outages could increase by 100 times in 2030 if the U.S. continues to take reliable power offline.
Secretary Wright ordered that the two Eddystone Generating Station units remain online past their planned retirement date in a May 30, 2025 emergency order. Keeping these units operational over the past 90 days has improved energy security in the PJM region, as demonstrated by the fact that PJM called on the Eddystone Units to generate electricity during heat waves that hit the region in June and July.
The emergency conditions that led to the issuance of the first order persist.
This order is in effect beginning on August 28, 2025, and continues until November 26, 2025.
Background:
PJM has voiced resource adequacy concerns for years.
In its February 2023 report, PJM highlighted the increasing resource adequacy concerns and reliability risks in the coming years due to the potential timing mismatch between resource retirements, load growth and the pace of new generation entry.
In a December 2024 filing at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), PJM stated that its preliminary analysis shows “substantial increases” in load additions and that “its resource adequacy concerns are increasing at an extraordinary pace.”[i]
Finally, during a March 2025 hearing before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, PJM’s President & CEO testified that there is a “growing resource adequacy concern . . . impacting a significant part of our country.”[ii]
[i] PJM Interconnection, L.L.C., FERC Docket No. ER25-712, Tariff Revisions for Reliability Resource Initiative at 10 (Dec. 13, 2024).
[ii] Keeping the Lights On: Examining the State of Regional Reliability, Before the H. Comm. on Energy and Com., S. Comm. on Energy, 119th Cong. (Mar. 25, 2025) (testimony of Mr. Manu Asthana, President and CEO of PJM Interconnection) (Asthana Test.) at 4-5, available at https://www.congress.gov/119/meeting/house/118040/witnesses/HHRG-119-IF03-Wstate-AsthanaM-20250325.pdf.
