"Across North America, demand for electricity this winter is expected to be 2.5% higher than last year for a total of 20 gigawatts, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) said in a report released this week. In recent years, winter demand grew by 1% or less. Data centers are driving a significant chunk of that growth, especially in the mid-Atlantic, U.S. West, and U.S. Southeast, "areas where a lot of data center development is occurring," Mark Olson, NERC manager of reliability assessments, told E&E News."
"This year, NERC said the situation in Texas isn't likely to be as dire as it was in February 2021, in part because so many batteries have been added to the state's grid. Those batteries can step in to provide electricity if gas-fired power plants can't deliver as intended. Plus, they can react more quickly to smaller perturbations than so-called "peaker" power plants, most of which run on natural gas and require minutes to spin up."
Winter electricity demand across North America is expected to increase by about 2.5%, roughly 20 gigawatts, a notable rise from prior years. A significant portion of the increase is attributable to rapid data center development concentrated in the mid-Atlantic, U.S. West, and U.S. Southeast. Expansion of data centers in Texas is linked to heightened risk of supply shortfalls. The 2021 Texas outages stemmed from frozen natural gas wellheads that curtailed generation while demand surged. Added battery storage in Texas can provide fast, short-duration backup, but most batteries supply power for only a few hours.
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