PPL Corporation statement on Trump-Shapiro call for new power auction to spur construction of power plants paid for by data centers

ALLENTOWN, Pa., Jan. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- PPL Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Vincent Sorgi today issued the following statement in response to President Trump and a bipartisan group of governors calling on PJM Interconnection to hold a special auction to fund new generation in support of data centers:

"We thank President Trump and Governor Shapiro for their role in recognizing the seriousness of today's generation challenges and championing solutions to improve grid reliability, power large-scale data centers and help keep energy affordable for the families and businesses we serve.

The announcement from Friday, January 16, is a clear acknowledgment that new, dispatchable generation is urgently needed, and PPL stands ready to be part of the solution.

This is why we created a joint venture with Blackstone Infrastructure to build, own and operate new generation to serve data centers under long-term energy services agreements and help mitigate rising electricity prices for our other customers. Since our announcement in July at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, the joint venture has been laying the necessary groundwork to move as quickly as possible to build new, dispatchable generation to serve large-load data centers in Pennsylvania.

In addition, we support legislation that's been proposed in Pennsylvania to facilitate construction of new, dispatchable generation in the Commonwealth.  That proposed legislation includes long-term contracting provisions with independent power producers and would also allow regulated utilities, including PPL Electric Utilities, to build and own regulated generation again. We continue to believe that whoever is able and willing to build new generation should be encouraged to do so. And at PPL, we are absolutely willing and able to be part of the solution. 

We're committed to bringing our expertise forward to move the President's announcement from concept to reality. And we will continue to engage with a wide range of stakeholders, including federal and state leaders and data center developers, to address today's energy challenges and ensure a safe, reliable and affordable energy future for our customers ─ all while enabling the U.S. to win the AI race."

About PPL
PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL), headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania, is a leading U.S. energy company focused on providing electricity and natural gas safely, reliably and affordably to more than 3.6 million customers in the U.S. PPL's high-performing, award-winning utilities are addressing energy challenges head-on by building smarter, more resilient and more dynamic power grids and advancing sustainable energy solutions. For more information, visit www.pplweb.com.

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SOURCE PPL Services Corporation