PJM just admitted the grid is sweating

The grid just hit the “uh-oh” button

PJM, the regional power-grid operator covering much of the Mid-Atlantic, is moving faster on data-center deals — basically admitting its capacity is getting stretched by demand that looks suspiciously like the AI arms race.

For investors, that matters because electricity isn’t a nice-to-have anymore. It’s the bottleneck. And when the bottleneck starts widening, utilities and power generators become the accidental celebrities of the trade.

Why Constellation and Vistra are popping

Stocks tied to power supply, like Constellation and Vistra, rallied on the news. That makes sense: if data centers keep multiplying like Starbucks locations in 2012, the winners are the companies that can actually deliver the juice.

A few things to keep in mind:

• PJM speeding up deals suggests demand is outpacing the grid’s planning cycle
• Data centers are turning electricity into the new scarce commodity
• That could support higher prices, more contracts, and more long-term investment in generation

Big picture

This is one of those weird market moments where a boring infrastructure announcement turns into a growth story. If PJM is waving in more data-center demand, the power market may have just gotten a lot more important — and a lot more investable.