PJM Interconnection, the grid operator for all or parts of 13 states mainly in the Mid-Atlantic, said it expects to have enough electricity to meet demand this summer.

PJM, which expects to serve 65 million consumers during the upcoming cooling season, said peak demand could reach 153,000 MW this summer, equal to the electricity needed to power 153 million homes.

PJM said it has 185,804 MW of installed capacity at its disposal, along with 9,120 MW of demand response resources available from customers willing to curb usage during peak hours. The grid operator said it has a 29% (roughly 42,000 MW) reserve margin, well above the required 16.6%.

“PJM is continually planning to meet the region’s needs years in advance, coordinating transmission upgrades with our members, embracing newer and efficient technologies and ensuring that the power supply is secure and reliable,” CEO Andy Ott said.

Added VP of Operations Mike Bryson, “Our members do a great job of maintaining strong transmission, generation and distribution systems that deliver all of this power to their customers, and our operators stand ready to make sure the power flows where it’s needed most.”

PJM has also instituted new reliability measures aimed at holding “generators to stricter, no-excuses standards to deliver the electricity they promised.”

Last summer PJM saw demand peak at 151,907 MW on Aug. 11. The all-time peak in PJM was nearly 166,000 MW in 2006.

The PJM service territory, home to producing areas of the Marcellus and Utica shales, has seen natural gas-fired generation take up a larger profile in its power stack in recent years.

A gas-fired building boom of sorts is under way in PJM, with one of the greatest pushes under way in Ohio and Pennsylvania, which are flooded with low-cost supplies. There are more than 50 gas-fired projects listed under construction in the PJM queue and more than 80 wind, solar and hydro projects under way as well.

A recent NGI special report, “Pipelines & Power: How New Infrastructure Could Uncork the Marcellus-Utica Bottleneck,” explores the region’s shifting power market and what more gas-fired electricity could mean for demand going forward.

PJM’s Bryson was featured recently as part NGI’s webinar “Super Power: PJM Interconnection Markets Solving the Gas Glut in Appalachia?,” which is available on replay.