DOE orders PJM backup generation on standby for 13–16 October outage season
Serguey Asael Shinder1 min readThe US Department of Energy issued an emergency order for the mid-Atlantic grid on 12 October 2026, covering 13 to 16 October. It was granted on an application from PJM Interconnection submitted on 11 October.
The conditions the order responds to. DOE describes a period of elevated demand coinciding with a high rate of planned generator outages during the autumn maintenance season and numerous planned transmission outages.
What PJM may do under it. The order directs PJM to dispatch specified units and to order their operation as needed to maintain reliability. It also authorises PJM to direct backup generation resources to run as a last resort — either before declaring an Energy Emergency Alert level 3 (EEA 3) or during one. PJM may call on its transmission owners and electric distribution companies to implement the order.
The national context DOE gives. The department estimates that more than 35 GW of unused backup generation remains available across the United States. Its press release frames the order politically, quoting Energy Secretary Chris Wright on the risks of earlier "energy subtraction policies"; the operative content is the dispatch authority and its four-day window.
What the window means. The order is time-limited: it runs from 13 to 16 October. For market participants in PJM, the practical effect is that units named in the order may run outside normal economic dispatch during the window, and backup generators that normally sit outside the market can be called before the system reaches its last alert stage.
Source: US Department of Energy, "Energy Secretary Secures Mid-Atlantic Grid Ahead of Anticipated Stressed System Conditions" — https://www.energy.gov/articles/energy-secretary-secures-mid-atlantic-grid-ahead-anticipated-stressed-system-conditions