PJM's Cycle 1 began Phase I studies on September 28, 2026. It is the first cycle of PJM's reformed interconnection process with no projects grandfathered in from the old serial queue.

All Cycle 1 projects applied under the same rules, between May 2025 and the April 27, 2026 deadline. That makes Cycle 1 the clearest picture yet of what developers are planning to build in PJM, how many projects make it through the queue, and how long it takes to receive an interconnection agreement.

In total, 811 projects applied, with 220 GW of capacity. 617 of them, totaling 169 GW, entered Phase I. The next major wave of withdrawals is expected at the first decision point, in February 2027.

Gas currently leads the cohort by capacity, with 81 GW. Storage leads by project count, with 265 projects. Gas clusters in western and central PJM, storage in the Mid-Atlantic. Developers expect solar and storage to come online first, in 2030, followed by gas in 2031 and most nuclear capacity from 2033.

Key takeaways

• Gas holds 48% of Cycle 1 capacity. Storage accounts for 43% of projects. Gas applications were nearly six times those in TC2.
• Gas dominates western and central PJM, and storage dominates the Mid-Atlantic. The AEP, Dominion, and ComEd zones hold the most proposed capacity, and they are also where PJM expects the most data center load growth.
• Weighted by capacity, the median requested in-service date is October 2030 for storage, May 2031 for gas, and June 2033 for nuclear.
• 24% of projects withdrew before Phase I, similar to TC2. TC2 went on to shed 56% of its capacity by its first decision point and 65% by its second.

Gas leads Cycle 1 by capacity, storage leads by project count

Cycle 1 is the largest cycle PJM has run under its reformed process. It drew 220 GW of applications, against 68 GW for TC2 and 41 GW for TC1.

Solar made up the largest share of applied capacity in both transition cycles: 52% in TC1 and 37% in TC2. In Cycle 1, that share fell to 6%. Instead, gas applications grew nearly sixfold from TC2 to Cycle 1, and storage applications nearly fivefold. This shift is likely driven by capacity accreditation. Gas and storage have higher effective load carrying capability (ELCC) ratings than solar, meaning PJM counts more of each MW toward reliability. With capacity prices at PJM's cap for three auctions in a row, that makes each MW of gas or storage worth far more in the capacity market than a MW of solar.

Among projects now in Phase I, gas makes up 48% of capacity but only 20% of projects. By contrast, storage accounts for 43% of projects but only 30% of capacity. The median gas plant in the cohort is 587 MW, while the median battery is 180 MW. Three-quarters of gas capacity is requesting interconnection at 345 kV or above, against a third of storage capacity.

Nuclear is the third-largest technology, with 18 GW across 25 projects in Phase I. Nuclear applications were nearly 12 times TC2's 1.5 GW.

Solar (9 GW), solar-plus-storage hybrids (6 GW), and wind (3.5 GW) make up most of the rest.

Where do Cycle 1 projects propose to connect?

Cycle 1 project locations are defined by four patterns.

Gas dominates western and central PJM. It makes up 84% of Cycle 1 capacity in Pennsylvania, 80% in West Virginia, and 72% in Ohio.

Storage dominates the Mid-Atlantic. It makes up 76% of Cycle 1 capacity in Maryland, 64% in New Jersey, and 50% in Virginia.

Nuclear is concentrated in AEP's zone, which holds 14.7 GW of nuclear interconnection requests. Two AEP utility subsidiaries hold 13.8 GW of that: Indiana Michigan Power, with 11.5 GW between Rockport and Sullivan in Indiana, and Appalachian Power, with 2.3 GW at Joshua Falls in Virginia.

Lastly, total capacity follows data center demand. The three zones with the most proposed capacity are AEP (46.6 GW), Dominion (30.7 GW), and ComEd (16.9 GW). They cover the data center hubs of central Ohio, Northern Virginia, and Chicago, and PJM expects them, with PPL, to carry more than 80% of its data center load growth through 2030.

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When do developers expect Cycle 1 projects to come online?

Every application includes a requested in-service date, the developer's estimate of when the project could start operating. Weighting by capacity, standalone solar and storage come first, with median requested in-service dates of September and October 2030, and three-quarters of each due by December 2030. Gas follows, with a median of May 2031 and three-quarters by December 2031.

Nuclear comes latest, with a median requested in-service date of June 2033 and three-quarters by June 2034. AEP's six 2.3 GW positions make up 78% of the cycle's nuclear capacity, with requested dates from 2033 to 2035.