Noreva in the media: coverage featuring Peter Gardett, CEO, in The Wall Street Journal (July 24, 2026).
In brief: The Wall Street Journal attributed to Noreva CEO Peter Gardett the view that, because the PJM auction hit a price cap, capacity prices still aren’t high enough to spur needed new plants, especially gas. Gardett: “The auction has pulled off making everyone unhappy.”
Noreva, an energy market data and analytics provider (formerly Karbone Research), is cited in Jennifer Hiller’s July 24, 2026, article on the rising cost of building out the US power grid. Noreva CEO Peter Gardett addressed the PJM capacity auction.
What the Wall Street Journal coverage examined
The article reports a record amount of generation under development and construction costs rising for every type of plant, as surging demand from AI data centers combines with equipment backlogs, permitting delays, tariffs and long waits to connect to the grid. Costs for gas plants and large-scale solar and wind are up more than 10% since last year, and combined-cycle gas reached about $90/MWh from $79 last year, the highest in roughly 15 years (Lazard, cited by The Wall Street Journal, 07/2026). Electricity prices rose 4% in June from a year earlier (Bureau of Labor Statistics, cited by The Wall Street Journal, 07/2026). Capital-spending plans at 51 investor-owned utilities reached an estimated $1.4 trillion over five years, up more than 20% from last year’s projections (PowerLines, cited by The Wall Street Journal, 07/2026). Renewables and batteries are about 90% of projects under construction likely to start generating this year (EIA, cited by The Wall Street Journal, 07/2026).
PJM serves roughly 67 million people (The Wall Street Journal, 07/2026). Its latest capacity auction came up short of the reserves it hoped to procure, and at the time of the July 24 article another was planned for fall 2026. Of about $16.4 billion in capacity-market charges, $6.3 billion was caused by data center demand (Monitoring Analytics, cited by The Wall Street Journal, 07/2026). The article also notes voluntary White House-secured pledges from tech companies and some utilities not to shift data center grid costs onto households and businesses.
The Journal attributed to Gardett, chief executive of Noreva, the view that, because the auction hit a price cap, capacity prices still are not high enough to spur developers to build the additional power plants, especially natural gas, that the market needs. That is the Journal’s paraphrase; the one verbatim line reads: “The auction has pulled off making everyone unhappy,” Gardett said.
Why it matters for developers, utilities, and investors
A capacity price held at a cap is a muted investment signal. The construction costs the article documents are part of what that signal has to cover before a developer commits capital to a new plant, with the rest coming from energy revenues. When the clearing price stops at the cap, the auction no longer shows what level would bring that supply forward. Capacity forecasts and merchant curves therefore have to treat the cap as a limit on the signal, not as a measure of what new supply costs.
Frequently asked questions
What did The Wall Street Journal report about the PJM capacity auction?
The Journal reported on July 24, 2026, that PJM’s latest capacity auction came up short of the reserves it hoped to procure, and that another was planned for fall 2026. It also cited the market monitor’s finding that $6.3 billion of about $16.4 billion in capacity-market charges was caused by data center demand (Monitoring Analytics, cited by The Wall Street Journal, 07/2026).
What did Noreva CEO Peter Gardett say about the price cap?
The Journal attributed to Gardett the view that, because the auction hit a price cap, capacity prices still are not high enough to spur developers to build the additional power plants, especially natural gas, that the market needs. The article also quoted him: “The auction has pulled off making everyone unhappy.”
How does Noreva cover PJM capacity prices?
Noreva publishes capacity price forecasts, including a dedicated PJM capacity page, and builds scenario-based merchant curves for US power markets.
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