BRAIAIN Power Last updated: 2026-10-20

PJM capacity auction price history

As of the July 2026 auction results, the PJM capacity price for the 2028/29 delivery year is $325.00 per MW-day — the third consecutive auction at the FERC-approved price cap. The repricing came in one step: the 2024/25 delivery year cleared at $28.92 and the very next auction (2025/26) cleared at $269.92 — 9.3x in a single cycle. The last two auctions cleared 6,623 MW and 6,831 MW short of the reliability requirement.

$40.80 $28.92 $269.92 $325.00 2007/08 13/14 18/19 24/25 28/29

RTO clearing price, $/MW-day, scale 0–360. Prices from 2018/19 onward are UCAP-based. Chart drawn from the table below. Source: PJM auction reports.

The data

delivery yearrto clearing price usd per mw day
2007/0840.8
2008/09111.92
2009/10102.04
2010/11174.29
2011/12110.0
2012/1316.46
2013/1427.73
2014/15125.99
2015/16136.0
2016/1759.37
2017/18120.0
2018/19164.77
2019/20100.0
2020/2176.53
2021/22140.0
2022/2350.0
2023/2434.13
2024/2528.92
2025/26269.92
2026/27329.17
2027/28333.44
2028/29325.0

Download: CSV · JSON — compiled data CC BY 4.0; underlying sources keep their own terms.

Method & caveats

Prices are PJM Base Residual Auction RTO-wide clearing prices as published in PJM's own auction reports and releases. 2018/19 onward are UCAP-based; earlier years rest on PJM's historical report tables. The 2026/27–2028/29 auctions cleared at the FERC-approved price cap, which means the price is censored: clearing at the cap says the market price would have been at least the cap. PJM attributed part of recent demand growth to data centers in press coverage, but this series alone does not attribute cause. Numeric facts compiled from PJM public reports; PJM text and charts are not reproduced.

Sources

Questions

Why did PJM capacity prices jump 9.3x in one year?
The 2024/25 auction cleared at $28.92/MW-day and the 2025/26 auction at $269.92. PJM cited higher demand forecasts and supply changes; press reports quote PJM attributing part of the growth to data centers. This page reports the prices; it does not assign a single cause.
What does clearing at the price cap mean?
The last three auctions cleared at the FERC-approved cap ($329.17, $333.44, $325.00), so the posted price understates scarcity — an uncapped market would have cleared at least that high. The 2027/28 and 2028/29 auctions also procured 6,623 MW and 6,831 MW less than the reliability requirement.
What is a Base Residual Auction?
PJM's annual capacity auction, held roughly three years before the delivery year, which pays generators to be available. Prices here are RTO-wide clearing prices in dollars per MW-day.

Cite this

BRAIAIN. "PJM capacity auction price history." www.braiain.com/pjm-capacity-prices.html, updated 2026-10-20. Original sources as listed above.

Related

Part of BRAIAIN — the AI buildout, measured. Every figure carries its source and date; the full rules are in the methodology. Corrections: see the contact note there. © 2026 BRAIAIN, a dnilgis project.