Mid-Atlantic and portions of the Midwest and South, United States.
Wholesale design: nodal energy and ancillary-services markets with a centralized Reliability Pricing Model capacity construct.
Energy in PJM trades in 2 layers: Day-Ahead Energy Market and Real-Time Energy Market. Participation in Real-Time Energy Market is mandatory. Scheduling and settlement, where the cited sources give them, are in the table below.
| Layer | Scheduling | Settlement |
|---|---|---|
| Day-Ahead Energy Market | hourly | day-ahead locational marginal pricing and co-optimized reserve pricing |
| Real-Time Energy Market (mandatory) | five-minute pricing and dispatch | real-time locational marginal pricing and reserve market-clearing prices |
PJM has 6 ancillary-service products, across 5 families — regulation, frequency containment, automatic frequency restoration, reactive power & voltage and black start & restoration: Black Start Service, Non-Synchronized Reserve, Reactive Supply and Voltage Control, Regulation, Secondary Reserve, Synchronized Reserve. Response timing, direction and eligibility for each are in the table below; a product's full record lists the official sources behind it.
Every value below comes from the official sources listed in that product's full record. Most products cite more than one, and the published sources do not say which of them states each individual value, so the binding is to the product's record rather than to a single document. A missing line means the source does not state that value — never that the value is zero.
Scroll the table sideways for the rest of the columns →
| Service | How it activates | Response | Sustained delivery | Procurement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regulation | ||||
| Regulation | Response type pre-contingency continuous Trigger symmetric regulation assignment around a base point; a resource must be able to achieve its full bid capability within five minutes Dispatched by PJM regulation signal | Expected within 5 min | Through hour-ahead and real-time assignment Pricing design regulation capability and performance compensation | |
Full record for Regulation — document bound, page for these figures not recorded What it is for Correct area-control error and help maintain interconnection frequency through automatic control. Notes from the source Manual 12 effective 2025-10-01 describes the current Phase 1 single-signal implementation. Checkpoint recap Expected within 5 min What the source does not state The source states the response deadline. It does not state how long delivery has to be sustained, and the volume is either set per auction or not published as a standing figure — the source does not say which. Sources
| ||||
| Frequency containment | ||||
| Non-Synchronized Reserve | Response type post-contingency Trigger qualified capability able to start, synchronize, and reach the reserve output within ten minutes Dispatched by PJM reserve-event instruction | Expected within 10 min | Through day-ahead; real-time Pricing design reserve market-clearing price plus applicable performance settlement | |
Full record for Non-Synchronized Reserve — document bound, page for these figures not recorded What it is for Provide offline or non-synchronized primary reserve for contingencies. Checkpoint recap Expected within 10 min What the source does not state The source states the response deadline. It does not state how long delivery has to be sustained, and the volume is either set per auction or not published as a standing figure — the source does not say which. Sources
| ||||
| Synchronized Reserve | Response type post-contingency Trigger synchronized capability available within ten minutes Dispatched by automatic response and/or PJM reserve-event instruction | Expected within 10 min | Through day-ahead; real-time Pricing design reserve market-clearing price plus applicable performance settlement | |
Full record for Synchronized Reserve — document bound, page for these figures not recorded What it is for Provide online primary reserve for contingencies. Checkpoint recap Expected within 10 min What the source does not state The source states the response deadline. It does not state how long delivery has to be sustained, and the volume is either set per auction or not published as a standing figure — the source does not say which. Sources
| ||||
| Automatic frequency restoration | ||||
| Secondary Reserve | Response type post-contingency Trigger online or offline capability available after ten minutes and no later than thirty minutes; it qualifies for the 30-Minute Reserve requirement but not Primary Reserve Dispatched by PJM instruction | Expected within 30 min | Through day-ahead; real-time Pricing design 30-Minute Reserve market-clearing price | |
Full record for Secondary Reserve — document bound, page for these figures not recorded What it is for Provide additional thirty-minute reserve after or in anticipation of system contingencies. Checkpoint recap Expected within 30 min What the source does not state The source states the response deadline. It does not state how long delivery has to be sustained, and the volume is either set per auction or not published as a standing figure — the source does not say which. Sources
| ||||
| Reactive power & voltage | ||||
| Reactive Supply and Voltage Control Reactive Services | Response type continuous or directed Trigger facility-specific reactive capability and voltage schedule Dispatched by automatic voltage regulator and PJM instruction | Through tariff-based Pricing design tariff-based revenue requirement and lost-opportunity-cost provisions, as applicable | ||
Full record for Reactive Supply and Voltage Control — document bound, page for these figures not recorded What it is for Supply or absorb reactive power and maintain transmission voltage schedules. What the source does not state It does not state a response time or how long delivery has to be sustained, and the volume is either set per auction or not published as a standing figure — the source does not say which. Sources
| ||||
| Black start & restoration | ||||
| Black Start Service Black Start | Response type restoration Trigger system restoration plan Dispatched by PJM restoration instruction | Through cost-based service commitment Pricing design tariff-defined cost recovery | ||
Full record for Black Start Service — document bound, page for these figures not recorded What it is for Start without external station power and energize portions of the grid during restoration. What the source does not state It does not state a response time or how long delivery has to be sustained, and the volume is either set per auction or not published as a standing figure — the source does not say which. Sources
| ||||
Yes — Reliability Pricing Model is a central capacity market.
Locational capacity auctions procure residual capacity after fixed-resource-requirement and self-supply positions; resources assume Capacity Performance obligations during the delivery year.
Current as of · from the Global Electricity Market Catalogue v1.2.0 (compiled to , CC BY 4.0, rendered here with wording edited for readability). Facts belong to the linked official authorities; verify the current rules before design or bidding decisions.
The markets index holds the full set. For what the grid demands of a battery here, see the grid-code ride-through atlas.