PJM Interconnection operates the largest wholesale electricity market in the United States, spanning 13 states and serving over 65 million people. Its interconnection queue contains hundreds of gigawatts of pending capacity requests, and data center load projects represent a rapidly growing share. Understanding where in PJM territory new data center interconnection requests are concentrated reveals where capital is being deployed and where land acquisition windows are closing. GridAlpha monitors the PJM queue alongside 6 other ISO/RTOs, extracting entries that match data center load profiles (50+ MW), geocoding each to its point of interconnection, and then scouting for undervalued land parcels near those substations. The result is a direct mapping from capital commitment to land opportunity.
See PJM queue leadsHow GridAlpha reads the queue
GridAlpha continuously monitors the PJM interconnection queue, filtering for entries with 50+ MW requested capacity and fuel type codes consistent with data center loads. Each qualifying entry is tagged with substation, county, and requested MW.
Every qualifying queue entry is geocoded to its point of interconnection using HIFLD substation data. This creates a precise geographic link between where grid capacity is being requested and where the physical infrastructure exists.
GridAlpha scouts for parcels within a defined radius of each queue-identified substation, evaluating acreage, assessed value, soil conditions, flood risk, and owner motivation. The goal is to find land before the interconnection announcement drives prices up.
PJM territory
Frequently asked questions
The PJM interconnection queue is the formal pipeline of generation and load projects requesting to connect to the PJM grid, the largest wholesale electricity market in the United States. It includes data center load requests alongside generation projects such as solar, wind, gas, and battery storage. Each entry specifies requested MW capacity, point of interconnection (substation), county, and project status.
PJM’s interconnection queue contains hundreds of gigawatts of pending capacity, with data center load requests representing a rapidly growing share. The exact count changes monthly as new applications are filed and existing projects advance or withdraw. GridAlpha monitors the queue continuously, filtering for entries that match data center load characteristics: 50+ MW capacity, specific fuel type codes, and identifiable county-level locations.
PJM serves all or parts of 13 states plus the District of Columbia: Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina. The largest data center load concentrations are in Virginia (Loudoun, Prince William counties), Ohio (Columbus corridor), Pennsylvania (Lehigh Valley), and Indiana (Indianapolis metro area).
PJM interconnection timelines currently range from 3 to 5+ years from initial application to commercial operation. The backlog has grown substantially due to renewable energy and data center demand. PJM’s transition to cluster-based study processes aims to reduce timelines, but near-term projects face extended waits. Sites near substations with existing headroom can sometimes accelerate through direct interconnection agreements.
GridAlpha extracts data center-relevant entries by filtering on MW threshold (50+ MW), fuel type codes associated with load-serving projects, and geographic location. Each qualifying queue entry is geocoded to its point of interconnection substation, and GridAlpha scouts for undervalued land parcels within a defined radius. This links capital commitment directly to land acquisition opportunity.
GridAlpha applies a minimum threshold of 50 MW to qualify interconnection queue entries as data center-relevant. This filters out smaller commercial and residential projects while capturing the full range of data center loads, from single-building colocation facilities (50–100 MW) to hyperscale campus deployments (300–500+ MW). The threshold is configurable per ISO territory.
GridAlpha monitors PJM and 6 other ISO queues to identify where data center interconnection requests are concentrated, then finds undervalued parcels nearby.
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