As extreme weather events, longer summers and the transition to renewables become more common, Northeastern experts say that users can expect an increase in power outages this summer.
“I think things are less predictable than ever,” says Jennie Stephens, who researches the social-political aspect of renewable energy transformation at Northeastern. “We know there’s going to be disruption.”
The North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) 2023 Summer Reliability Assessment warns that two-thirds of North America is at risk of energy shortfalls this summer during periods of extreme demand.
Almost the entire continental U.S. is at elevated risk, except the Eastern seaboard other than New England.
“Increased, rapid deployment of wind, solar and batteries have made a positive impact,” says Mark Olson, NERC’s manager of Reliability…
