More than 50 percent of North America is facing a serious risk of an energy shortfall in the coming years amid the retirement of thermal plants and the addition of renewable energy sources, according to new data released by the non-profit North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC).
Most of the American bulk power systems (BPS) face “mounting resource adequacy challenges over the next 10 years as surging demand growth continues and thermal generators announce plans for retirement,” said the Dec. 17 report from the organization. New solar and hybrid energy resources are added to the supply mix, but they are not being completed at a fast enough pace to meet the ever-increasing demand. In addition, “the performance of these replacement resources is more variable and weather-dependent than the generators they are replacing,” the report stated….