Trump seeks emergency power auction to have tech firms fund new power plants

Beincrypto reports President Trump, joined by governors from several Northeastern states, is pressing PJM — the country’s largest grid operator — to hold an emergency power auction that would require technology companies to bid for 15‑year contracts to build new power plants, according to Bloomberg.

The push is expected to take the form of a non‑binding “statement of principles” to be signed by the National Energy Dominance Council and governors including those of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia. The contracts could underpin roughly $15 billion of new generation capacity, with tech companies covering costs whether or not they use the power.

PJM supplies more than 67 million people across a region from the Mid‑Atlantic to the Midwest and already hosts the world’s largest concentration of data centers, particularly in northern Virginia. The proposal responds to rising electricity demand from AI data centers and record retail electricity prices — the average US retail price rose 7.4% to 18.07 cents per kilowatt‑hour in September 2025, while residential prices jumped 10.5% between January and August 2025, the outlet said.

Key Topics

Politics, Donald Trump, Pjm, Ai Data Centers, Bitcoin Miners, Northern Virginia