2023-12-25 02:17:00
New York, New England, the western United States, but also Ontario and British Columbia in Canada… In 2024, these regions of North America could face electricity shortages during summer heat waves or winter storms, reports the british scientific journal New Scientist. The cause, in particular, is the skyrocketing demand for energy from the technology industry and the electrification of buildings and vehicles.
In a recent report, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), which oversees the North American electricity grid, predicts that a majority of regions in the United States and Canada will not have sufficient electricity supply. to reliably meet demand in extreme weather conditions. Two regions in the central United States have even been designated by NERC as having a “high risk” of disruptions, even in normal times. One of these regions stretches from the U.S.-Canada border from Michigan and Minnesota to Louisiana on the southern Gulf Coast, and the other encompasses Tennessee as well as parts of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri and Kentucky.
A general trend towards electrification
Always according to New Scientist, energy supply is one of the factors contributing to the problem. NERC’s Mark Olson said at a Dec. 13 news conference that power plants powered by fossil fuels are being retired and not being replaced by renewable energy sources at the same rate.
The British media also points the finger at cryptocurrency mining installations, which consume a lot of energy and which are developing in several states, particularly in Texas. According to consulting firm McKinsey, data center energy consumption in the United States could also double by 2030. The general trend toward electrification of heating and transportation systems is also creating new peaks in demand of electricity in winter, which are added to those observed in summer with the increased use of air conditioning.
At a NERC press conference, John Moura, one of its members, said that North America’s electricity supply had become virtually inseparable from the natural gas supply chain. A reliable electricity supply, which reduces the risk of power outages, but which depends in particular on the implementation of reliability standards for the natural gas industry. But the fuel delivery system does not meet the same reliability standards as the electricity grid and, in many cases, there is no way to guarantee that fuel will be available to gas plants in winter.
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