6 events in Passaic County with a date

Keeping NJ plugged in

Lawmakers says new energy supplies needed to meet state's growing demand

By: Katie Sobko
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... New Jersey residents saw a rate hike of about 20% on their utility bills earlier this summer [2025] and while there are plans for short-term relief, the cause behind the increase isn't going away any time soon.
..... The state's energy grid, which is part of the regional PJM Interconnection, is facing far more demand than PJM has supply to provide.
..... There are multiple reasons damned has increased in recent years, but warner summers as a result of climate change and the introduction of AI data centers are the two that most frequently grab attention.
..... New jersey lawmakers and others have undertaken some efforts to counteract rising temperatures and data centers, but bringing more energy producers Online and ensuring the demands for AI don't deplete the supply for residents aren't things that can be done overnight.
..... In a recent interview with NorthJersey.com , state Senator Andrew Zwicher, D-Hillsborough, pointed to a range of energy-generating solutions that could help ease the burgeoning demand on New Jersey's electrical grid.
..... Zwicker, who is a scientist who works on fusion energy at Princeton University when he;s not serving the people of district 16, told NorthJersey.com that the climate crisis and warming temperatures throughout the planet are leading to health concerns and even increased heat-related deaths in Europe.
..... "That means that air conditioning is now not just a luxury, it;s a health necessity," Zwicker said. "That means every summer, and we;re going through a very hot summer, the demand for electricity is going up."

How does PJM work?

..... Enter PJM - shorthand for Pennsylvania, Jersey, Maryland - three of the 13 states that make up the regional transmission grid.
..... PJM is responsible for operating the electric grid for a huge swath of the mid-Atlantic coast west to Illinois, covering about 70 million retiredness within its service area.
..... Zwicker explained the initial concept was that by baning together, states could buy lots of electricity all at once and lower the cost. And for a long time it worked, he said, but those continually increasing temperatures, and the dawn of artificial intelligence are now having an impact.
..... "PJM entity, what there job is, is not to just make sure that there's enough electricity on our grid for our day-to-day needs, but to predict how much energy that we're going to need moving forward and those predictions have started rapidly increasing because of the rise of AI," Zwicker said.

How do AI data centers impact electricity supply?

..... Though it is a convenience in many cases, AI consumes an enormous amount of electricity.
..... Data centers are being built throughout the PJM region and have a direct impact on the supply available on the grid as a result. these data centers don't just impact the energy gird, though. they demand other resources, like water, to be operational and keep form overheating. Other cities and states have opposed data center development because of this drain on resources. Earlier this month, [08/2025] the Tucson, Arizona, city council voted against allowing an Amazon data center to be connected to the city's water system. The project had drawn an outcry form residents because of the energy and water it would need to operate. An investigation by Bloomberg News found that about two-thirds of new data centers built or in development since 2022 are in places already gripped by high levels of water stress.
..... Zwicker also noted that these data centers don't provide many jobs in local economies after they've been built.
..... "We need to look carefully here in New Jersey at how much we want to allow data centers into the state because of all these negative environmental consequences or negative impact on our electrical rates," he said.

What can NJ lawmakers do?

..... Zwicker said that more can be done legislatively to balance the rise of AI and its energy needs with the cost of electricity for residents. There is a bill in the state senate that would require large data centers to bring their own clean energy because otherwise "we'd see these data centers want to siphon that energy of, which means less for us."
..... Another way to address the supply and demand issue, Zwicker said, would be to fast-track a wide range of energy-generation projects in a range of shapes and sizes. There are about 80 proposals for energy-generation projects pending across the state, Zwicker said.
..... the senator said adding small-to-medium scale energy generation facilities would be the cheapest and faster way to get more electricity onto New Jersey's gird.
..... As for what types of energy, be it wind, solar nuclear or fossil fuels, the recent changes in federal subsidies will likely impact what projects are presented to PJM. "The federal government has decided that some forms of energy -renewable, clean energy - are bad, and we're going to stop incentively it while we continue to incentive fossil fuels, which are dirty and more expensive, and pollute and cause global warming," Zwicker said. "It makes no sense whatsoever."

Could nuclear energy help New Jersey?

..... Zwicker said that he's asked about getting Oyster Creek in South Jersey back Online to provide nuclear energy. the concept isn't unheard of. Microsoft essentially brought Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania specifically to cover its data center.
..... But Oyster Creek "doesn't make a lot of economic sense to figure out how to turn it back on because the decommissioning has gone so far along that the reality is we need to look at building something new and different," he said.
..... As for the costs to residents, that price hike back in June [2025] was the result of a rate auction from last year. [2024] PJM held another one in July [2025] and while nothing is set, there likely will be an increase. it won't be as big though.
..... States including New Jersey sued and reached an agreement to cap the increase at 5%, but without that agreement Zwicker thinks the increase would be closer to 20% again.
..... Zwicker also noted that one of the buggiest misconceptions about the energy issues the state face is that there is a quick fix.
..... He noted that while utility bills have become a political talking point in this fall's gubernatorial election, what is being done now is to provide energy in the future.
..... "This idea that you can miraculously just build all of a sudden a power plant is not true," he said. "we have to look at a couple of other things. One is how do we upgrade our grid ... and to try to address this is energy efficiency."

..... Katie Sobko covers the New Jersey Statehouse. email: sobko@northjersey.com

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