Electric power supply was significantly more reliable last year than earlier in the decade, but also more in danger of serious outages than ever before, the U.S. grid reliability monitor reported Thursday.
“We think we’re adequate, but we’re actually exposed to a lot more risk than we have appetite for,” said John Moura, “a senior official of the North American Electric Reliability Corp., the high-voltage grid’s performance monitor, in a media briefing Thursday.
The NERC report underscores the emerging risk of grid disruptions and shortages due to the stunning predictions of demand growth from artificial intelligence applications, cryptocurrency mining and increasing electrification across the economy.
“The size and speed at which data centers are being connected to and operated on the [grid] is creating one of the greatest near-term reliability challenges,” NERC said.
