‘Energy-Limited Resources’: Huge Swaths Of America Face Blackout Risks If Winter Is Bitter, Grid Watchdog Warns

By Free Republic | Created at 2024-11-16 15:10:43 | Updated at 2024-11-23 17:10:42 1 week ago

‘Energy-Limited Resources’: Huge Swaths Of America Face Blackout Risks If Winter Is Bitter, Grid Watchdog Warns
Daily Caller News Foundation ^ | November 15, 2024 | Owen Klinsky

Posted on 11/16/2024 6:35:33 AM PST by george76

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.

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 in order 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.”

“If the EPA’s new power plant rule survives court challenge, it will force the retirements of nearly all remaining coal generation plants and will prevent the construction of vitally needed new combined-cycle baseload gas generation,” Christie wrote. “This loss of vitally needed dispatchable generation resources will be catastrophic.”

TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 3rdworld; electric; electricreliability; energy; energyshortfalls; nerc; powergrid; reliability; shortfalls

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1 posted on 11/16/2024 6:35:33 AM PST by george76

To: george76

Liberals: we need more EV’s!

Idiots.

2 posted on 11/16/2024 6:38:44 AM PST by Wasichu

To: Wasichu

Do not charge your EV as the windmills can not keep up.

3 posted on 11/16/2024 6:46:56 AM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)

To: george76

Woodstove and generator. Never worry again.

4 posted on 11/16/2024 6:48:59 AM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)

To: george76

Now who could have foreseen this? /s

5 posted on 11/16/2024 6:52:33 AM PST by Mastador1

To: Wasichu

Shut down more coal powered power plants! Go Green! More EVs! All fossil fuels bad!No more refineries! More power to the unregulated EPA to control every aspect of our life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . why is my electricity off? Everything is dark. No gas at the gas pumps. Businesses are closing. How did this happen?

6 posted on 11/16/2024 6:56:47 AM PST by BipolarBob (Enough of this talk about narcissists, let's get back to talking about me.)

To: BipolarBob

As I'm sure you know, there's a one-word answer: Democrats.

7 posted on 11/16/2024 7:03:13 AM PST by libertylover (Our biggest problem, by far, is that almost all of big media is AGENDA-DRIVEN, not-truth driven.)

To: george76

this winter if weather conditions are harsh

But, but, but I thought global warming was here and we only have a few years left to live.

8 posted on 11/16/2024 7:05:36 AM PST by libertylover (Our biggest problem, by far, is that almost all of big media is AGENDA-DRIVEN, not-truth driven.)

To: george76

Yes, the “multi-sourse smart grid” (that qaushes old fashion sources and demands more “renewables be used) is unreliable. Just ask folks in California.

9 posted on 11/16/2024 7:10:18 AM PST by Wuli

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