Before getting into the specifics of the proposal Atlantic City Electric filed with the N.J. Board of Public Utilities this week, it’s worth being clear about what this project actually is — because it’s easy to lump it in with every other headline about New Jersey needing more power.
It isn’t a new power plant.
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Atlantic City Electric files for transformative 500-megawatt energy storage project in Salem County
ACE isn’t proposing to generate a single additional watt of electricity. What it’s proposing to build is essentially a giant container for power that already exists — electricity that solar panels and wind turbines across the PJM grid are producing right now, today, that has nowhere to go and simply goes to waste because there isn’t enough capacity in the system to store it.
By ACE’s own estimate, that’s roughly 20 gigawatts of solar and wind power going unused across the PJM grid on a given day — enough, if it could all be captured, to matter enormously on the hottest, highest-demand afternoons of the year. A battery doesn’t create that power. It just catches it before it disappears, holds onto it, and releases it back into the grid a few hours later when everyone needs it most.
Atlantic City electric wants to do it on a massive scale, too.
PJM’s entire grid — 13 states plus Washington, D.C. — currently has only about 500 megawatts of battery storage capacity in total. This single facility, on its own, would match all of that combined. One project, in one New Jersey township, doubling the amount of battery storage across an entire regional power grid.
Put simply: this isn’t about making more electricity. It’s about wasting less of what we’re already making.
That distinction matters, because it’s the difference between a project that could take a decade to permit and build — like a new gas plant or a nuclear facility — and one ACE says could be up and running in roughly three years. Here’s a closer look at what Atlantic City Electric is proposing, why now, and what it means for South Jersey.
Q: What did Atlantic City Electric just file for, and why now?
A: ACE filed a proposal with the state Board of Public Utilities to build a 500-megawatt battery energy storage system in Pittsgrove Township.
The timing traces back to a widening gap between electricity demand and available supply across the PJM grid, which covers New Jersey and 12 other states plus Washington, D.C. A PJM capacity auction this month fell nearly 7 gigawatts short of the generation PJM says it needs to keep the grid reliable, and New Jersey still imports roughly half the power it uses.
ACE says the project is meant to add local supply quickly, since building a battery facility takes a fraction of the time required for a new power plant.
Q: This isn’t a new power plant — so what exactly does a battery storage system do?
A: It doesn’t generate any electricity. It stores power that’s already been generated elsewhere on the grid, often solar and wind power that would otherwise go unused because there’s nowhere to put it when it’s produced.
The battery charges up during hours of low demand and low prices, then discharges during peak hours — typically in the late afternoon and evening — when demand and prices are highest. ACE says a large share of PJM’s renewable output currently goes to waste for exactly this reason: there isn’t enough storage capacity in the system to capture it.
Q: How much power actually goes to waste right now?
A: According to Mario Giovanini, Exelon’s director of development on the project, roughly 20 gigawatts of solar and wind power across the PJM footprint goes unused on a given day simply because there’s nowhere to store it. Solar and wind don’t produce power on demand — they produce it when the sun is out or the wind is blowing, which doesn’t always line up with when people actually need electricity.
Without storage, PJM either has to curtail that renewable output or let it go unused entirely. A battery lets the grid bank that power instead of losing it, then release it later during the hours — usually between roughly 2-6 p.m. — when demand peaks and the system is under the most stress.
Q: How big is 500 megawatts, really?
A: Big enough to double the amount of battery storage on the entire PJM grid — in one project. PJM’s footprint spans 13 states and Washington, D.C., and today that whole region has only about 500 megawatts of battery storage capacity combined. ACE’s proposed facility, by itself, would match that entire existing total. It would also be large enough to power approximately 400,000 homes and would stand as the single largest battery storage installation anywhere on the PJM grid.
Q: Why battery storage instead of just building more power plants?
A: Speed to market is part of that answer. ACE officials say proposals to add new generation — whether gas, nuclear or offshore wind — typically take eight to 12 years to get from proposal to operation today, a timeline that has stretched even longer in recent years.
A battery storage project of this scale, by contrast, is targeted for completion in about three years from filing. Storage isn’t a replacement for new generation — ACE officials describe it as one piece of a broader portfolio the state needs — but it’s the piece that can come online fastest while slower, larger projects work their way through approvals.
Q: Where would this be built, and why Salem County?
A: The facility would be built on ACE-owned land in Pittsgrove Township, on about 20 acres of a 100-acre property the company already owns. Construction is expected to bring hundreds of union jobs to the area, which ACE officials note is an economically challenged part of the state. Once operational, though, the facility would need only a small permanent staff, since battery storage systems require relatively little day-to-day labor to run.
Q: What will this cost customers?
A: ACE says customers won’t see any bill impact for at least the first five years of operation — a stretch the company said could extend to around 2035 or 2036. The company isn’t disclosing the total project cost, citing confidentiality, but says revenue from selling power into PJM’s wholesale markets, combined with federal investment tax credits, is expected to cover about 70% of the project’s cost over time. ACE said all PJM market revenue from the project would go back to ratepayers rather than being kept by the company.
Q: Why can’t ACE just apply to New Jersey’s existing storage incentive program instead of filing separately?
A: New Jersey already runs an incentive program for battery storage called the Garden State Energy Storage Program, but utilities like ACE aren’t eligible to participate in it. ACE is filing under a different section of BPU authority instead, and describes its project as complementary to the state program rather than a competitor to it — essentially another route toward the same goal of adding storage capacity.
ACE officials said they couldn’t speak to the board’s reasoning for excluding utilities from that program in the first place.
Q: Has this kind of project been done anywhere else?
A: Not in New Jersey — if approved, this would be the first time a New Jersey utility has owned and operated a battery storage facility at this scale. But ACE’s parent company, Exelon, has already deployed similar technology elsewhere: Delmarva Power has a battery facility in Ocean City, Maryland; Baltimore Gas and Electric has deployed the technology as well; and ComEd, Exelon’s Illinois utility, operates two battery storage facilities of its own.
Q: What could stand in the way of this getting approved?
A: This would be the first time a New Jersey utility owns and operates a battery storage facility at this scale, so regulators will be reviewing a model they haven’t dealt with before at this size — what ACE’s Andrew Hendry called a matter of first impression for state regulators. The BPU and the state’s ratepayer advocate will have full access to ACE’s filing, cost assumptions and projections, and will ultimately have to decide whether the project is a cost-effective and prudent way to address the state’s supply shortage.
Q: When would this actually come online?
A: Pending regulatory approval, ACE is targeting late 2030 for completion — a roughly three-year build timeline once approvals are in hand. The company is developing the project with Invenergy, which it describes as North America’s largest privately held developer of power infrastructure, with 35 completed energy projects across the PJM region totaling more than 7,400 megawatts of battery storage, solar, wind and natural gas capacity.
