Hundreds of millions of Americans risk experiencing power shortages this winter if weather conditions are harsh, according to a new report published by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), a power grid watchdog. [emphasis, links added]
Nearly all residents of the Northeast, Texas, and Midwest could face energy shortfalls in the event of a colder-than-usual winter, the NERC report states.
The lack of grid reliability is driven largely by growing electricity demand as well as the replacement of coal-fired and older natural gas-fired generators with energy-limited resources such as solar power.
“Foreseeable extreme cold temperatures have the potential to push the existing natural gas supply infrastructure to maximum capacity,” the report warns.
“Serving winter load is becoming more challenging and complex as coal-fired and older natural gas-fired generators retire and are replaced by variable and energy-limited resources.”
The expansion of power-hungry data centers has led to a surge in electricity demand, according to the NERC study, with consulting firm Bain projecting utilities could have to increase their annual power generation by as much as 26% by 2028.
Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris administration has sought to reduce natural gas and coal-fired power generation, finalizing a rule in April requiring that existing coal plants use carbon capture and storage to control 90% of their carbon emissions by 2032 if they want to stay running past 2039 and that certain new natural gas plants cut their emissions 90% by 2032, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Grid operators have requested the EPA nix the power plant rule to protect long-term energy dependability, with four major regional operators filing an amicus brief in support of red states’ legal challenge against the rule, stating it would jeopardize the grid’s ability to reliably meet American energy needs.
Mark Christie — a top power grid regulator — wrote a letter to lawmakers in August claiming the EPA rule could be “catastrophic.”
Read rest at Daily Caller
I sure would like to see it go dark on those Keep it in the Ground Devest in Fossil Fuels Useful Idiots
And as always with wealthy socialists like Soros Gates and the rest of them they will have their Generators so they will always have power to keep them comfortible
A round the Western world subsidised and mandated wind and solar power is displacing conventional power in the electricity supply. Consequently most of the grids in the west are moving towards a tipping point where the lights will flicker at nights when the wind is low.
The root of the problem is the failure of the meteorologists to give warning of wind droughts and the failure of energy planners to check the wind supply.
Consider the ABC of intermittent energy generated by wind and sun.
A. Input to the grid must continuously match the demand.
B. The continuity of RE is broken on nights with little or no wind.
C. There is no feasible or affordable large-scale storage to bridge the gaps.
So the green transition is impossible with current storage technology.
The rate of progress towards the tipping point will be accelerated by the surge of demand due to AI.
In Australia the transition to unreliable wind and solar power has hit the wall because we have reached the point where we can’t afford to lose any more coal capacity or the lights will flicker every night when the wind is low!
https://newcatallaxy.blog/2023/07/11/approaching-the-tipping-point/
Britain, Germany and South Australia have passed the tipping point and entered a red zone, keeping the lights on precariously with imports and deindustrialization to reduce demand.
The meteorologists and energy policy planners in Europe missed the Dunkelflautes that must have been known to mariners and millers for centuries!
https://www.flickerpower.com/images/The_endless_wind_drought_crippling_renewables___The_Spectator_Australia.pdf
https://quadrant.org.au/news-opinions/climate-change/no-gusts-no-glory/
High level inquiries must be conducted to find out why the meteorologists failed in their professional duties and why or how energy planners managed to get away with out checking the wind supply imagine embarking on a major irrigation project without forensic investigation of the water supply including historical rainfall figures.
I put much of the blame on the Electric Power Engineers who have to know and understand what is needed to keep the grid stable. As you say at the beginning of your post the supply of electricity must always match the demand. If not the grid becomes unstable and as has happened in the past a problem in one location can cascade to major blackouts (see the blackout a few decades ago that took out much of the grid in the northeast.
The problem with a mismatch between supply and demand isn’t just more demand than supply but can be too much supply for demand if the wind suddenly pushes more electricity into the grid than the demand–can’t throttle down those wind turbines like you can a gas-powered plant.
I put much of the blame on the Electric Power Engineers who have to know and understand what is needed to keep the grid stable. As you say at the beginning of your post the supply of electricity must always match the demand. If not the grid becomes unstable and as has happened in the past a problem in one location can cascade to major blackouts (see the blackout a few decades ago that took out much of the grid in the northeast.
The problem with a mismatch between supply and demand isn’t just more demand than supply but can be too much supply for demand if the wind suddenly pushes more electricity into the grid than the demand–can’t throttle down those wind turbines like you can a gas-powered plant.
We become vulnerable when bad policy decisions threaten our energy supply. I just read that Germany is negotiating with Moscow for natural gas supplies this winter. Are ze Germans willing to throw Ukrainians into the deep freezers?
Increasing the amount of intermittent unreliable power on the grid can only reduce reliability. That shouldn’t be difficult to understand.