July 7, 2026 | Source: PJM Interconnection Hot Weather Operations Update (July 2, 2026); U.S. Department of Energy Orders No. 202-26-32 and 202-26-33
DOE Emergency Orders Put Data Center Curtailment on the Table as PJM Chased a 20-Year-Old Peak Record
PJM spent the past week operating through an extreme heat event that pushed demand to the edge of its all-time summer record.
PJM served a preliminary hourly integrated peak of 161,910 MW on July 1. As of 1 p.m. on July 2, PJM forecasted a peak of 166,241 MW — above the existing record summer hourly integrated peak of 165,563 MW set in 2006. Pre-Emergency Demand Response was activated across the footprint the afternoon of July 2, roughly 6,000 MW of it, which may ultimately suppress the official peak figure.
Two DOE Section 202(c) emergency orders backstopped the event. Order No. 202-26-32 granted generating units temporary relief from environmental permit restrictions effective July 1–3, with PJM requesting an extension through July 6. Order No. 202-26-33 — the one worth reading twice — authorized transmission owners, as a last resort prior to voltage reduction or load shed, to curtail data centers and other large loads that have backup generation.
PJM also issued a Maintenance Outage Recall on June 25 and carried Maximum Generation and Load Management Alerts through the peak days.
What This Means in the Control Room
An emergency order that names data centers as a curtailable resource ahead of firm load shed is a first-of-its-kind operational tool. Large flexible loads with on-site backup generation are now formally in the emergency procedure stack — after DR and max-gen actions, before voltage reduction.
For operators and reliability coordinators, that changes the EOP conversation. If your footprint has significant data center load, your emergency operating plans, curtailment communications, and TOP coordination procedures need to reflect where those loads sit in the order of operations — and who makes the call.
For transmission planners and compliance teams, this connects directly to the broader large-load push: NERC's Level 3 alert on computational loads (responses due August 3) and FERC's Docket No. RM26-4 on interconnecting large loads. The regulatory direction is clear — large loads are becoming a defined, dispatchable part of reliability operations, and the documentation expectations will follow.
EPG Solutions Can Help
Events like this are won or lost on situational awareness — knowing your reserve margins, DR performance, and load behavior in real time, before the phone rings. That is exactly the visibility RTDMS/PGDA-style real-time monitoring is built for, and it is where EPG Solutions spends its days helping control rooms sharpen theirs. Visit EPG Solutions → epgsolutions.services