The Energy Department let PJM fire up backup generators for four days as the Mid-Atlantic grid tightened

The Energy Department’s Order No. 202-26-50 let PJM Interconnection, the operator of the Mid-Atlantic grid, direct specified generating units and backup generators to run for four days, from October 13 through October 16, 2026. The window has closed. PJM asked on October 11, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright signed the order the next day.

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Order 202-26-50 and the section 202(c) power behind it

The order was issued under section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, the provision that lets the Secretary of Energy require generation, delivery, interchange or transmission of electricity when an emergency exists. In the order’s own words, the trigger is “a sudden increase in the demand for electric energy, or a shortage of electric energy.” The Energy Department’s page for the order shows no separate docket number, so the order number is the identifier to cite.

PJM’s reasons were a stack of ordinary autumn conditions rather than a single failure. The department’s announcement of the order points to elevated demand, a high rate of planned generator outages during the autumn maintenance season, and numerous planned transmission outages, all landing on the same grid at once. Wright said the order would help millions of American families and businesses across the mid-Atlantic, and the department framed its purpose as mitigating blackout risk in the region.

The timeline was tight. PJM filed its section 202(c) application on October 11, a Sunday, and the order followed on October 12 with an effective date of October 13, giving the grid operator roughly a day of lead time before the authority switched on. The department’s announcement describes the action as securing the grid ahead of anticipated stressed system conditions, which makes it a precaution taken before a shortfall rather than a response to one already under way.

Which units and backup generators the order covered

The authorization came in two layers. The first was the generating units listed in Exhibit A to PJM’s application, which the department’s order page says it updated three times during the window: on October 12 at 5:17 p.m. Eastern, on October 13 at 3:15 p.m., and on October 14 at 1:41 p.m. The second layer was any additional unit PJM judged necessary to maintain reliability, with prompt written notice to the department, which kept the right to reject a designation. The public pages do not reproduce the unit names; those sit in Exhibit A to the application.

Backup generation was the central provision. The text of the order lets PJM direct backup resources, including auxiliary, standby, directly connected and battery storage units, whether or not they are synchronized to the bulk power system. The use is limited to a last resort, either before PJM declares an Energy Emergency Alert level 3 or during one, which is the most serious tier of the standard alert ladder.

Whole classes of backup machines were carved out. Resources serving defense, homeland security, first responders, air traffic control, hospitals, 911 centers, water and wastewater plants, and natural gas pipeline or gathering facilities were excluded, along with similar critical facilities. Backup resources run under the order are not counted as capacity resources, so they do not show up in PJM’s reliability accounting as ordinary supply. The department estimates more than 35 gigawatts of unused backup generation exists nationwide, a national figure that says nothing about how much of it sits inside PJM.

The order’s waivers, and its limits

The order does not expressly waive any environmental limit, but it acknowledges that PJM expects exceedances of permit restrictions on sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, wastewater releases, other air pollutants including ammonia, and fuel throughput. For designated resources, the emissions, operating hours and fuel burned while the order is in effect are not counted toward rolling-average limits. That is the practical relief: a plant that would otherwise run out of permitted hours can keep running.

The relief has strings. Operators must still follow environmental monitoring, reporting and recordkeeping requirements to the maximum extent practicable, and operation must be consistent with environmental law to that same standard. Section 202(c)(2), which the order cites, limits any operation that conflicts with environmental rules to the hours needed to meet the emergency.

PJM also owed the department daily notice identifying each specified resource and each backup resource it operated, plus any environmental impact and compliance information the department requested. Parties affected by the order must file any needed tariff revisions or waivers with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and rate recovery is available under 16 U.S.C. 824a(c). Any renewal had to be requested before the order expired on October 16.

The department’s summary does not say whether PJM ultimately dispatched any backup generator, and the order granted permission rather than reporting use. Anyone wanting that answer has to look to the daily notifications PJM sent the department, which are not part of the public record cited here.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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