Regulator: Two-thirds of the US is at risk of winter blackouts

According to regulator NERC, especially under harsh winter conditions, two-thirds of the United States could experience prolonged blackout conditions. A large part of Canada is also affected. The result of the “green” energy transition in North America. Wind and sun are not reliable producers of electricity.

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) is the regulator responsible for the power grid of the United States and Canada. A recently published report on the reliability of the North American power grid in the winter of 2023/2024 warns of prolonged blackout phases across large areas if harsh winter conditions occur.

The Canadian province of Saskatchewan, as well as the eastern Canadian provinces starting from Quebec, as well as almost the entire eastern half of the United States are at risk of power outages on such a large scale. The reason for this: the need for compensation mechanisms as a result of increasing reliance on wind and solar power (which provide little electricity in winter – keyword: dark doldrums). In the case of the United States, this means gas-fired power plants as backup. However, according to the report, there is a lack of adequate gas supply infrastructure, which could lead to massive delivery disruptions in some cases.

“The electrification of the heating sector is increasing temperature-sensitive load components, while the increasing number of distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) energy resources (DERs) with variable output increases the uncertainty of load forecasting”the regulator wrote in its winter reliability assessment report. “Underestimating electricity demand before the onset of cold temperatures can lead to ineffective operational planning and inadequate resource planning,” the agency said.

So we are talking about a very adverse development here. While in winter the wind and sun provide significantly less electricity than during the rest of the year, the need for electricity increases significantly due to the increasing electrification of heating systems. But when power grids collapse, homes are unable to stay warm in extreme winter. This will be very inconvenient for many Americans.

and that’s not all. The United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) warned earlier this year about intermittent power generation from wind and solar power. “A nominal megawatt of wind or solar power is not equivalent to a nominal megawatt of gas, coal or nuclear power”FERC Commissioner Mark C. Christie told Congress during a hearing before the Subcommittee on Energy, Climate and Grid Security in June.

Christie pointed out that it is not the wind and solar power itself that is problematic, but the speed at which baseload, dispatchable generation capacity is being decommissioned and replaced by non-switchable wind and solar farms. Attachable capacities are those that provide electricity around the clock or on demand, such as coal, gas and nuclear power. Wind and solar energy, on the other hand, generate electricity only when the weather allows it.

The climate nutcase’s utopia fails because of reality. And this already at a time when the desired decarbonization of energy production does not even come close to reaching what net zero radicals consider a minimum goal. And the further this decarbonization progresses, the more unreliable and unstable electricity supplies become.