The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) issued a warning on Wednesday, indicating an increased risk of power supply shortages in the U.S. Southwest, Texas, parts of the Midwest, and New England during peak demand periods this summer. The organization cited a combination of factors including rising electricity consumption, supply constraints, and changing energy landscapes.
According to NERC, factors such as extreme heat, the proliferation of data centers, heightened manufacturing activity, and the growing presence of electric vehicles are driving up power demand forecasts for the summer months. Concurrently, predictions of decreased wind power and diminishing coal-fired generation are expected to strain supply in certain regions.
The addition of a record 25 gigawatts of new solar capacity, particularly in Texas and Florida, is anticipated to alleviate some of the heightened demand, NERC noted. However, it cautioned that intermittent nature of renewable energy sources poses challenges, particularly in the absence of robust energy storage technologies.
John Moura, NERC's director of Reliability Assessments and Performance Analysis, highlighted the evolving resource mix as a key challenge for operators, particularly during summer evenings when demand peaks. He stated, “One of the key challenges operators face as the resource mix evolves is how to get through the summer evening periods with fewer available resources at their disposal.”
Peak summer demand coincides with evening hours when households typically increase cooling usage and electric vehicle charging. This poses a particular challenge for states heavily reliant on solar power generation, such as California and Texas, where solar resources are low during those periods.
NERC also noted the potential impact of wildfires, common in the summer and autumn, which can disrupt power supply and contribute to price spikes in electricity markets.
