Is the "AI butterfly effect" about to send electricity prices through the roof? In this video, we break down the critical PJM Base Residual Auction taking place between December 4th and December 10th, 2025. While grid auctions usually sound arcane and boring, this one is deciding the capacity and cost of power for June 2027—and the stakes have never been higher.

Here is what we cover in this episode:
• The AI Boom & Power Demand: How the launch of ChatGPT and the manufacturing of energy-hungry Nvidia chips kicked off a massive spike in data center load, specifically in states like Ohio and Virginia.

• The Supply Crunch: Why the grid’s supply side hasn't kept up. We discuss the fallout from Winter Storm Elliot in 2022, where nearly 40 gigawatts of gas generation failed to show up, forcing PJM to derate its assets and tighten the supply curve.

• Skyrocketing Prices: We look at the numbers. Capacity prices soared from a three-year average of roughly $37 to over $269 in previous auctions.

• The Price Cap Strategy: How Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro negotiated a temporary price cap (a "collar" between ~175and 325) to protect consumers."

• The Coming "Gloves Off" Moment: This current auction is the last one protected by the price cap. Future auctions scheduled for 2026 will have no floor or ceiling, potentially leading to even more volatile pricing.

• Political Fallout: With data center loads costing the market over $16.6 billion in the last two auctions alone, state governors and the Department of Energy are now fighting over how to fix the interconnection queue and manage the grid’s future.

The results of this auction will be released on December 17th, and they could signal a boiling point for the US electrical grid

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🎙️ About Energy Future: Powering Tomorrow’s Cleaner World

Hosted by Peter Kelly-Detwiler, Energy Future explores the trends, technologies, and policies driving the global clean-energy transition — from the U.S. grid and renewable markets to advanced nuclear, fusion, and EV innovation.

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AI is hungry for power, but the grid’s most precious resource isn’t just generation—it’s time. We dig into a headline‑grabbing plan to build a 1,500‑megawatt nuclear‑powered data campus in South Texas and unpack why the near‑term reality starts with on‑site gas, not fission. From regulatory approvals and factory build‑outs to fuel and financing, modular nuclear still has miles to go. Meanwhile, data center builders face a thicket of interconnection queues, uneven utility processes, and hardware lead times that stretch to 2030.

We trace the practical playbook emerging across the industry: bridge with co‑located turbines or fuel cells, pursue grid interconnection in parallel, and design for redundancy because machines fail and maintenance windows are inevitable. Even markets famous for speed are hitting constraints. Transmission megaprojects take decades, demand requests are swallowing remaining capacity, and rate pressures are pulling energy costs into the political spotlight. Against that backdrop, the smartest lever may be operational, not infrastructural.

Here’s the pivot: flexible data center loads. With better workload orchestration, curtailment commitments, and virtual power plant contracts, large campuses can shed up to 25% for multi‑hour windows, buy capacity from aggregators, or island temporarily using their own generators. Grid operators are responding in kind, offering accelerated interconnection paths for customers willing to flex, while policy signals in places like Texas clarify that curtailment is part of the deal. The payoff is systemwide—higher load factors, more megawatt hours across the same wires, and a faster route to growth than waiting for the next 765‑kV line.

If you care about how AI, cloud infrastructure, and energy policy collide, this conversation connects the dots between nuclear timelines, gas‑first strategies, interconnection reform, and the rise of demand flexibility and VPPs. Subscribe, share with a colleague who builds data infrastructure, and leave a review with your take on the best path: build more generation, or bend the load?

Support the show

🎙️ About Energy Future: Powering Tomorrow’s Cleaner World

Hosted by Peter Kelly-Detwiler, Energy Future explores the trends, technologies, and policies driving the global clean-energy transition — from the U.S. grid and renewable markets to advanced nuclear, fusion, and EV innovation.

💡 Stay Connected
Subscribe wherever you listen — including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and YouTube.

🌎 Learn More
Visit peterkellydetwiler.com
for weekly market insights, in-depth articles, and energy analysis.

In this Week 5 – October 2025 Energy Update, I take a look at another eventful week in U.S. energy — one defined by offshore wind setbacks, renewed nuclear ambitions, and AI-driven grid innovation.

I start with Shell’s withdrawal from Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, which leaves EDF Renewables as the sole developer after a key EPA permit was pulled. I then discuss the Trump administration’s $80 billion nuclear partnership with Brookfield and Westinghouse, signaling a strong policy shift toward new reactor development.

I also cover FERC’s efforts to streamline large-load interconnections, Nvidia and Emerald AI’s new Aurora data center that demonstrates flexible energy use, and WattCarbon’s Repowering California initiative focused on virtual power plants.

To wrap up, I share updates on Ford’s production pause, Corning’s new wafer plant, and Form Energy’s first 100-hour iron-air battery deployment.

It’s a week that highlights both the challenges and the momentum driving America’s evolving energy transition.

Support the show

🎙️ About Energy Future: Powering Tomorrow’s Cleaner World

Hosted by Peter Kelly-Detwiler, Energy Future explores the trends, technologies, and policies driving the global clean-energy transition — from the U.S. grid and renewable markets to advanced nuclear, fusion, and EV innovation.

💡 Stay Connected
Subscribe wherever you listen — including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and YouTube.

🌎 Learn More
Visit peterkellydetwiler.com
for weekly market insights, in-depth articles, and energy analysis.