BACKGROUND: Grid Reliability
Last Updated: 2/2/26 – Updated Monthly
Renewable Energy Is Reliable
Clean Energy Makes The Grid More Reliable:
- Renewables strengthen the grid not only by providing direct energy resources but also by providing so-called ancillary grid services – which are functions grid operators use to maintain operations (and reliability) beyond sufficient energy generation.
- These services include voltage control, frequency response, and ramping capabilities.
- Studies show renewable energy sources are well-equipped to provide these ancillary services — sometimes even more effectively and efficiently than conventional fossil fuel generators.
- A NREL, First Solar, and California ISO (CAISO) study found that solar projects with inverter controls were able to provide ancillary “services that range from spinning reserves, load following, voltage support, ramping, frequency response, variability smoothing, and frequency regulation to power quality.”
- Moreover, the solar plant performed comparably to, or better than, conventional fossil fuel-fired power plants in all test categories and services.
- A similar study conducted on a wind farm confirmed that using smart inverter controls, wind power plants can “provide balancing or regulation up and down, voltage regulation control, active power control through ramping capability, and frequency response.”
- Xcel subsidiary Public Service Company of Colorado has been using wind resources for a decade to provide ancillary reliability services to the grid.
- A NREL, First Solar, and California ISO (CAISO) study found that solar projects with inverter controls were able to provide ancillary “services that range from spinning reserves, load following, voltage support, ramping, frequency response, variability smoothing, and frequency regulation to power quality.”
- Utility planners and grid operators view solar, wind, and energy storage as reliable inputs, enabled by advanced load and weather forecasting, which can alleviate the need for backup generation.
- Automated market mechanisms regularly choose to draw power from renewable sources because they’re the lowest cost during periods of high demand.
- In 2024, more than 40% of global electricity was generated from low-carbon sources, and global solar generation increased by 29%.
- Wind and solar generated more electricity than coal between January and May 2023.
Battery Storage Bolsters Grid Reliability:
- Power companies use battery storage to handle big swings in electricity generated from wind and solar, reduce congestion on transmission lines, and meet high demand during heat waves.
- Batteries are increasingly competing as ancillary services, or resources able to keep voltage and power load in check, enhancing both reliability during extreme weather events and savings for consumers.
- Battery energy storage systems saved customers $750 million during the January 2024 Texas cold snap.
- Battery storage is preferable for meeting sudden demand spikes because it can quickly deploy electricity.
- Large-scale batteries, increasingly paired with utility-scale solar and wind projects, provide the flexibility necessary to meet demand during peak hours.
- Batteries also allow clean energy to power the grid around the clock, even when there is low direct availability of solar and wind power.
- In the first quarter of 2025, the U.S. utility-scale energy storage market added 1.5 GW of capacity, a 57% increase from Q1 2024.
- By the end of 2026, the U.S. is expected to more than double its utility-scale battery storage, reaching nearly 65 GW.
- Large-scale battery storage sources in the commercial and industrial sectors are expected to rise from about 100 MW to 300 MW by the end of 2026.
- Battery storage capacity grew tenfold between 2020 and 2023, reaching 16,000 MW of capacity.
- Battery storage capacity was projected to double in 2024, driven by new installations in Texas, California, and Arizona.
- Since 2014, U.S. battery storage capacity has surged 97 times, reaching a record 15.5 gigawatts by the end of 2023.
Studies Affirm That Clean Energy Resources Are Reliable:
- An analysis from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) found that electric reliability with renewables integrated was stable from 2013-2017 and that wind and solar did not contribute to any instability issues of the grid at the national level.
- According to the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE), “the most pervasive forms of renewable energy generation, wind turbines, and solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, have fundamental characteristics that make them uniquely capable of withstanding many of [the most common threats to the supply of electricity].”
- A University of California, Berkeley study found that a 90% clean electricity grid would be achievable in 2035 and would meet energy demand in all periods, even with half of current existing fossil fuel capacity and complete coal retirement — including during extreme weather events and periods of low renewable energy generation.
- A National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) study found that an 80% clean electricity grid and high levels of wind, solar, storage, and other zero-carbon resources would maintain resource adequacy and balance the grid.
- A meta-analysis from Energy Innovation found that achieving 80% clean electricity by 2030 was feasible without sacrificing reliability. Across all studies analyzed in the report, the U.S. power system was reliable with high amounts of clean energy.
- A February 2025 study found that California was able to meet 100% of its electricity needs with renewable energy for up to 10 hours on 98 out of the 116 recorded days. The study took place from late winter to early summer in 2024, and there were no blackouts.
Renewable Energy Prices Are More Stable Than Fossil Fuels:
- The “known pricing” of renewables allows for long-term energy contracts that don’t present the same risk as fossil fuels.
- Diversifying energy portfolios hedges against the risk of future fossil fuel price fluctuations and increases grid reliability.
- In October 2024, EV drivers in Florida impacted by Hurricane Milton experienced more convenience and reliability when charging their electric cars compared to other drivers.
- Before the Hurricane, nearly 2,000 gas stations were reportedly out of fuel due to high demand and low supply. In comparison, EV drivers reported that public charging stations were readily available with low wait times.
- EV chargers also sustained low damage in the aftermath of the storm. Just two days after Milton made landfall over 85% of chargers in Florida were back online. Even within Hillsborough, which saw the worst impacts from the storm, 90% of chargers were back online within a week of the storm’s landfall.
Renewable Energy Is Reliable In Extreme Weather
Renewable Energy Is Reliable During Extreme Cold
Renewable Energy Generation Can Meet Demand, Even In Cold Temperatures:
- Solar panels generate electricity, even in below-freezing temperatures, because they use light, not heat, to generate electricity.
- Wind turbines can generate electricity at temperatures as low as -22 Fahrenheit.
- A PJM analysis found that offshore wind turbines are a more reliable source of power than gas turbines during winter months.
- Offshore wind can meet baseload demand in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic during winter months because ocean winds are at their strongest and steadiest during the winter.
- Offshore wind also performs best in winter mornings and evenings, the period of peak demand when people turn up the heat.
Renewable Energy Kept The Power On During January 2026’s Winter Storm Fern
- Wind generation “overperformed” in the lead-up to Winter Storm Fern in Texas, generating 6 GW higher than projected on the first day of the storm and 3 GW higher than projected on the second day of the storm.
- Texas’s grid was stable during Winter Storm Fern in January 2026 in large part due to new energy storage projects in the state, which provided power in times when it’s harder to meet demand.
- At one point on Monday morning, 9.5% of the power supplied to the grid came from battery energy storage systems, powering 1.75 million homes.
- Battery operators were ready to meet spiking demand on Monday and Tuesday mornings after the storm passed. An analyst described those times as the “riskiest” for the grid, as people and businesses started their days.
Comparatively, Natural Gas Resources Were Heavily Impacted By Winter Storms Fern’s Extreme Cold Temperatures
- Reuters, January 2026: Power plant outages surge in Eastern US amid restricted gas supplies and frigid weather.
- PJM Interconnection reported nearly 21 gigawatts of generation outages during the brunt of Winter Storm Fern on the afternoon of January 25, 2026.
- The Eastern seaboard’s natural gas pipeline network is “historically constricted” during extended periods of cold weather.
- ISO New England was forced to rely on oil-fired power plants for nearly 40% of its grid output in the afternoon of January 25, 2026, due to limited natural gas availability.
- Natural gas supplies were expected to be disrupted during Winter Storm Fern, with analysts predicting that more than 10% of U.S. natural gas production would be literally frozen during the storm.
Solar Kept Texas Warm During A February 2025 Arctic Blast
- When an arctic cold front hit Texas in February 2025, the state experienced record-breaking electricity demand. However, Texas’s solar infrastructure was able to meet these demands.
- On February 16, 2025, solar provided over 48% of total electricity demand for ERCOT customers.
- On February 28, 2025, solar provided more than 51% of the electricity demand for ERCOT customers.
Wind And Solar Kept The Lights On In The December 2022 Cold Snap:
- Ample solar and wind generation helped meet surging demand across the U.S.
- Comparatively, natural gas plants went down across the East Coast, causing grid operators to declare a system-wide emergency and ask consumers to minimize power use.
- In North Carolina, cold temperatures caused mechanical problems that reduced power generation at Duke Energy’s gas- and coal-powered plants, forcing Duke Energy to use rolling power outages. Solar energy stepped up to end the rolling blackouts.
Renewables Stayed Online During 2022’s Winter Storm Uri In Texas:
- Coal and gas plants comprised 73% of the power generation capacity that experienced unplanned outages during the winter storm.
- 31% of the outages during Winter Storm Uri were caused by fuel issues, which renewable energy sources do not require.
- Texas power plants and gas infrastructure weren’t sufficiently winterized to withstand the extreme cold temperatures the state experienced.
Wind Turbines Stayed Online During 2017’s Winter Storm Stella In Rhode Island:
- Despite wind speeds that exceeded 70 mph during Winter Storm Stella, Block Island Wind Farm, America’s first offshore wind farm, remained operational.
- All five of the farms’ turbines operated at full capacity of 30 MW.
Renewable Energy Is Reliable During Extreme Heat
Renewable Energy Is More Reliable Than Gas And Nuclear During Extreme Heat:
- Solar energy sources are more productive during extreme heat conditions across the U.S.
- Wind energy has a higher capacity during periods of extreme heat than during normal conditions in the Northeast, Texas, and the Midwest.
- Solar panels and batteries helped keep air conditioning running while reducing fossil-fuel generation during a deadly heat wave in June 2025, saving New England consumers more than $20 million.
- On June 24, 2025, the peak of the heatwave, behind-the-meter solar made up as much as 22% of the power being used in New England at any given time.
- In the summer of 2025, solar and wind provided about 50% of generation in Texas during peak summer demand when coal plants unexpectedly shut down.
- Solar and wind energy generated 40.2% of the electricity demand on Texas’ grid.
- The Electric Reliability Council of Texas forecasted only a 0.30% chance of rolling blackouts in August 2025, compared to a 12% of rolling blackouts in August 2024, because of increased solar, wind, and battery storage generation.
- In the summer of 2025, amidst a heatwave, solar panels, batteries, and virtual power plant technology helped avoid blackouts and saved New England households up to $20 million on their energy bills.
- In the summer of 2024, California and Texas avoided rolling blackouts because of new investments in energy storage.
- Solar and wind energy helped stabilize electricity prices during Texas’s heatwave in the summer of 2023.
- Renewable energy resources also shielded the grid from vulnerabilities caused by aging dispatchable natural gas and coal resources, which have a higher risk of going offline during extreme heat.
- The largest power plant outages weren’t renewable energy – a nuclear plant and two coal facilities went offline during the late June heat wave, reducing power supply by 10 GW.
- In June 2025, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas predicted that the likelihood of rolling outages during the peak of August heat is less than 1%, a significant decline from the 12% risk calculated in August 2024.
- ERCOT cited its battery storage system as a key factor in the declining outage risk and planned to have 924 MW of new battery storage and 355 MW of new solar online by August.
Renewable Energy Kept The Lights On During Extreme Heat In Texas In The Summer Of 2024:
- Between August 1 and August 31, 2024, 328 highest daily maximum temperature records were broken in Texas.
- On August 20, 2024, power demand in Texas broke a record high during a state-wide heat wave. Solar power generation was able to match the demand during peak midday hours while keeping electricity prices low.
Renewable Energy Kept The Lights On During Extreme Heat In California In The Summer Of 2024:
- Between June 23 and July 12, 2024, Sacramento experienced its hottest 20-day period on record, with an average of 103.8 degrees.
- Despite the significant strain the city’s heat wave placed on California’s grid, the state’s battery storage system was able to avoid blackouts without flex alerts warning people to conserve power.
- On July 8 and July 9, 2024, the battery storage system was able to export energy to customers in other Western states while also meeting California’s electricity demand.
Renewable Energy Kept The Lights On During Extreme Heat In Texas In The Summer Of 2023:
- Between June 1 and June 30, 2023, 347 highest daily maximum temperature records were broken in Texas.
- Solar power provided nearly 20% of the state’s grid’s power during record-high demand.
- Comparatively, coal, nuclear, and natural gas power all fell short of past output.
- Texas added about 4.4 GW of new solar capacity between summer 2022 and 2023, which helped meet demand during record temperatures.
- Texas has 54.5 GW of installed renewable energy, compared to 88.1 GW of thermal capacity.
- On June 27, 2023, Texas broke its record for electricity demand, and more than one-third of that power was supplied by wind and solar energy.
Solar Power And Battery Storage Ensured Grid Stability In Arizona During Heat Waves In The Summer Of 2023:
- Phoenix experienced 31 straight days with temperatures over 110 degrees this summer, driving record electricity demand.
- A new Arizona Public Service Co. battery storage program stored 200 MW of excess solar power generated during the day and released the energy from the grid overnight, helping meet record-high demand.
Renewable Energy Helped California Meet Power Demand During High Temperatures:
- California’s electrical grid has been operating with a power surplus thanks to renewable energy. In May 2023, nearly 45% of energy delivered was from renewable sources.
- New investments in lithium-ion batteries are further increasing reliability by ensuring access to renewable-generated power after dark. California’s investments in utility-scale battery storage are projected to generate over $1 billion in grid benefits annually by 2032.
- California has enough battery storage to power 10 million homes for a few hours.
- Battery storage helps stabilize prices and meet demand by recharging during the afternoon, when power prices crash due to excess solar generation, and releasing energy in the evening when solar generation slows.
- State officials forecast that California would avoid rolling blackouts during heat waves in the summer of 2024 because of new battery storage installations.
- In the summer of 2023, battery storage helped California meet demand during heatwaves and when certain power lines were offline due to high wildfire risks.
- On July 28th, California celebrated 100 days in 2024 with 100% carbon-free, renewable electricity for at least part of each day. The milestone was achieved while avoiding blackouts and emergency power reductions, even though July was the state’s hottest month on record.
Renewable Energy Is Reliable During Wildfire Events
Renewable Energy Is More Reliable Than Gas And During Wildfires:
- In 2024, the Lake Fire burned 38,644 acres in Santa Barbara County, California. During recovery efforts, the U.S. Forest Service implemented renewable energy solutions, including the deployment of solar-powered light towers and hybrid solar light-and-power trailers. Traditionally, diesel generators that consume approximately 2 million gallons of diesel annually are used, but the renewable energy initiative was able to reduce fuel consumption by up to 100% and provide reliable power even during smoky and low-visibility conditions.
Renewable Energy Is Reliable After Hurricane And Storm Events
Renewable Energy Is More Reliable Than Gas During Hurricanes and Storm Events:
- In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, the town of Hot Springs, North Carolina, regained power in just five days due to its solar microgrid. Other communities in the Carolinas and Georgia faced week-long outages.
Fossil Fuels Are Not Reliable
Fossil Fuels Are Not Reliable During Extreme Weather
Fossil Fuel Power Plants Are More Likely To Break Down During Extreme Weather Events:
- Coal and gas plants are extraordinarily complex, with numerous moving parts, which increases the risk of failure in extreme environments.
- Fossil fuel infrastructure also isn’t sufficiently winterized to meet demand in extreme cold.
As Climate Change Worsens Extreme Weather, Fossil Fuels Will Become Even Less Reliable:
- Power outages have doubled over the past 20 years thanks to the increasing effects of climate change and extreme weather events.
- Climate change poses risks to virtually every aspect of fossil fuel production, transmission, and distribution.
- North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s 2023 “State of Reliability” report found that fossil fuel generation is facing severe reliability challenges due to extreme weather.
Coal Generation Is Not Reliable:
- According to NERC’s 2023 reliability metrics, coal-fired power plants had an increase in forced outage rates.
- Coal-fired power plants had a weighted equivalent forced outage rate of 12% in 2023, a 2% increase from 2022, a measurement of the probability that units wouldn’t meet generating requirements because of forced outages.
Fossil Fuels Are Not Reliable During Extreme Cold
Extreme Winter Storms Disproportionately Impact Natural Gas Plants:
- Equipment freezes were the top direct cause of gas plant outages during winter storms, followed by mechanical and electrical issues.
- Recent gas plant failures took place above the minimum temperature where the gas plant was designed to operate.
- 81% of freeze-related outages during Winter Storm Uri in 2021 happened when the temperature was above the minimum ambient temperature rating.
- 75% of freeze-related outages during Winter Storm Elliott in 2022 happened when the temperature was above the minimum ambient temperature rating.
- Gas plants are more susceptible to fuel supply issues than other fossil fuel plants because they depend on real-time delivery from pipelines.
- All five storms analyzed in the report caused gas supply issues, as cold weather blocked the flow of gas.
- Supply cutoffs occurred even when the production didn’t decrease because of higher gas demand from end users other than power plants.
- Extreme cold also limits refinery capacity, further straining gas supply.
- In the past 11 years, the U.S. has suffered from five separate large-scale outages, mostly driven by the failures of gas-fired power during extreme cold events.
- In January 2024, U.S. crude oil production declined by 6% from December 2023 following freezing weather conditions.
- In North Dakota, extreme cold weather and operational challenges, including an oil spill and water line leak, cut oil production in half.
Fossil Fuels Are Not Reliable During Extreme Heat
High Temperatures Can Force Fossil Fuel Power Plant Outages:
- High ambient temperatures decrease generating capacity by reducing the amount of fuel they can burn.
- High temperatures also make it more difficult to cool gas plants, forcing them to operate at lower power levels.
- The combination of high temperatures and high demand during summer heat waves often causes plants to unexpectedly breakdown.
Extreme Heat Lowers Gas Production:
- Extreme heat lowered refinery output in Texas during July 2023, increasing gas prices.
- Refineries are not designed to operate during extreme temperatures; extreme cold or heat can constrain supply.
Fossil Fuels Are Vulnerable To Droughts
Droughts Force Water-Dependent Gas Plants To Shut Down:
- Many gas plants use water for cooling; shortages can force operators to shut down entire power plants.
- During the 2010-2015 Texas drought, one plant operator took three plants representing 403 MW of generation potential fully offline because the reservoir they relied on for cooling water was dry.
- ERCOT, Texas’s grid operator, published a drought risk analysis in 2023, which found that over 10,000 MW of gas plant capacity was at risk due to drought.
Extreme Weather Threatens Grid Reliability
Overall Cost
Extreme Weather Drives Power Outages:
- 45% of utility customers in the U.S. said they experienced a power outage in the first half of 2025, and 48% of those utility customers attributed the outage to extreme weather.
- In mid-2025, the average length of the longest outage was 12.8 hours, nearly 4 hours longer than 2024’s average length of the longest outage.
- 77% of customers in the Southern U.S. reported losing power after extreme weather events, with an average outage length of 95.2 hours, in the first half of 2025.
- The number of outages tied to severe weather in the United States is increasing drastically.
- 80% of all U.S. power outages reported from 2000 to 2023 were due to weather-related events. Most of these outages were caused by severe weather, including high winds, rain, and thunderstorms (58%), winter storms (23%), and tropical cyclones, including hurricanes (14%).
- From 2014 to 2023, the U.S. experienced twice as many weather-related outages as it did from 2000 to 2009.
- From 2014 to 2023, there were 32 major heat-related outages compared to just 14 from 2000 to 2009.
- The states with the most reported weather-related power outages from 2000 to 2023 were Texas (210), Michigan (157), California (145), North Carolina (111), and Ohio (88).
- The regions with the most reported weather-related power outages from 2000 to 2023 were the Southeast (360), South (352), Northeast (350), and Ohio Valley (301).
- An April 2024 study estimated that between 2024 and 2028, 300 million people across the United States could face power outages, in large part due to extreme weather.
- Since 2015, national power outages have surged by over 150% due to increased demand and extreme weather events.
- Severe weather is the leading cause of power outages in the U.S., costing the economy tens of billions of dollars annually and disrupting the lives of millions of Americans.
- The impact of weather-related blackouts ranges from $20 to $55 billion annually, and their frequency has increased over the last 30 years, with a dramatic increase in the 2000s.
- In 2020, the average American home endured more than eight hours without power, more than double the outage time five years prior.
- Approximately 75% of outages that last more than eight hours occur during an extreme weather event with heavy precipitation.
- During September and October, 75% of outages in the West are driven by wildfire activity.
- The American Society for Civil Engineers awarded a C- grade to the nation’s energy infrastructure system in its 2021 Infrastructure Report Card.
- Aged electrical grid components are more likely to be more vulnerable to extreme weather conditions. In fact, the exposure of power systems to severe weather conditions is often amplified by over-aged or degraded transmission and distribution equipment.
- Extreme weather disproportionately impacts socially vulnerable populations. In New York, one study found that between 2017 and 2020, roughly 40% of all power outages overlapped with extreme weather events. These events were concentrated in socially vulnerable neighborhoods.
- In 2022, an AP analysis found the number of outages tied to severe weather rose from about 50 annually nationwide in the early 2000s to more than 100 on average over the previous five years.
- The frequency and length of power failures are at their highest levels since reliability tracking began in 2013, with U.S. customers, on average, experiencing more than eight hours of outages in 2020.
- Over the past two decades, Maine, Louisiana, and California each experienced at least a 50% increase in outage duration, even as residents endured mounting interruption costs over the past several years.
- In California alone, power losses have affected tens of thousands of people who rely on electricity for medical needs.
Power Outages Are Costing Americans:
- According to the Department of Energy, power outages cost American businesses $150 billion annually.
- Transmission and distribution problems, such as those caused by extreme weather, result in power outages at an estimated annual cost of between $28 to $169 to U.S. households.
Hurricanes & Severe Storms
Electrical Power Distribution Systems Are Extremely Vulnerable To Severe Weather And Climate Events Such As Hurricanes And Tropical Storms:
- High winds during storms and hurricanes can lead to faults and damage to overhead transmission and distribution lines, either by debris being blown against the lines or a tower collapse in extremely high winds.
- Lightning strikes on or near overhead conductors can cause short-circuit faults, which trigger the electrical protection and the disconnection of the lines. The voltage surge caused by the strike may be transferred along the line and cause damage to equipment, such as transformer wings.
- Hurricanes are the leading cause of electricity outages, causing 90% of major outages across the U.S.
- Tropical storms were responsible for 80% of total power outage duration in 2024.
- In December 2024, a major power outage left nearly 1.3 million businesses and homes in the dark across Puerto Rico.
- In September 2024, Hurricane Helene cut off electricity for more than 6 million customers at the storm’s peak.
- In September 2024, Hurricane Francine caused nearly 420,000 customers on the coasts of southeastern Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama to lose power.
- Due to the storm, refineries that account for nearly one-sixth of the United States’ refinery capacity were running at a reduced rate, and refineries that account for over 95% of the United States crude oil exports were closed or restricted.
- Francine led to the offlining of about 42% of crude oil production and 53% of natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico.
- In North Carolina, Duke Energy said the infrastructure damage was severe, with substations under water, thousands of utility poles down, and fallen transmission towers.
- 360 substations in North Carolina were out due to flooding from Hurricane Helene.
- Duke Energy’s storm director for the Carolinas, Jason Hollifield, said that some parts of the state’s system will need to be completely rebuilt in the North Carolina mountains after Hurricane Helene’s severe impacts.
- In August 2024, nearly 130,000 homes and businesses lost power in North Carolina after Tropical Storm Debby made landfall in the state.
- Debby-related storms, including tornadoes, blew through Northeastern Ohio, causing nearly 330,000 customers to lose power.
- In Florida, strong winds uprooted trees and toppled utility poles, causing more than 250,00 homes and businesses to lose power.
- In August 2024, extreme heat and severe thunderstorms caused more than 300,000 customers to lose power across Michigan.
- According to the Detroit Free Press, a DTE Vice President reported that the company was expected to spend more than $50 million on storm repairs.
- In July 2024, Hurricane Beryl hit Southern Texas as a Category 1 hurricane, knocking out power to more than 2.6 million homes across Texas and Louisiana.
- In June 2024, thunderstorms and strong winds reaching up to 77 mph left more than 300,000 people without power in the Northeastern states and at least 40,000 people in the Midwest.
- In May 2024, an outbreak of more than 165 tornadoes and 1,600 severe weather events was reported across multiple central, southern, and southeastern states. The storms brought massive hail, high winds, and flooding rains, and resulted in thousands of people losing power.
- According to reports on May 9, 2024, more than 50,000 homes and businesses in Alabama had lost power, more than 44,000 in Texas, more than 16,000 in North Carolina, and more than 13,000 in Tennessee.
- In May 2024, Texas experienced several severe storms that left hundreds of thousands of people without power.
- On May 16, 2024, more than 900,000 homes and businesses lost power in Houston’s Harris County after a powerful derecho with 100-mile-per-hour winds hit the Houston region.
- On May 28, 2024, more than 600,000 customers in Texas, primarily around the Dallas area, were left without power after deadly storms with hurricane-force wind gusts caused a multi-day power outage.
- In 2023, more than 170,000 customers lost power in Austin after a damaging ice storm swept across Central Texas.
- In August 2020, Hurricane Isaias caused power outages for more than 2 million customers across the Northeast. The same month, Hurricane Laura left 400,000 customers without power, and seven people died from carbon monoxide inhaled from improper usage of generators.
- In 2012, Hurricane Sandy left over 8.5 million customers in the U.S. without power and caused over $7 billion in economic loss and 225 fatalities.
- Sandy was one of the most devastating storms to impact Connecticut’s overhead electric distribution network, resulting in over 15,000 outage locations that affected more than 500,000 customers.
- The damage caused to energy infrastructure was so significant that even months after the storm, power was yet to be restored to all areas of New York and New Jersey.
- Rain and floods pose a danger to substation equipment, such as switchgear and control cubicles.
- 70% of substations in the Southern U.S. are vulnerable to flooding, and their equipment is rapidly aging.
- The majority of the nation’s energy grid is aging. Some components are over a century old, and 70% of transportation and distribution lines are well into the second half of their lifespan.
- Implementing storm hardening measures enables the electric grid to better withstand the effects of hurricanes. Examples of such measures include elevating facilities to protect them from flooding and constructing flood walls to protect against storm surges.
- Case Study – New York: After Hurricane Sandy, New York-based utility Con Edison Inc. invested $1 billion in hardening measures, including raising critical equipment, burying overhead lines, and installing flood barriers and submersible equipment.
- Case Study – Florida: Intense hurricane seasons in 2004 and 2005 prompted Florida Power & Light to install smart meters and other grid modernization technology, underground vulnerable power lines, and replace some wooden utility poles with more durable concrete poles. Florida’s Public Service Commissions reviewed the utilities’ response and recovery to the four hurricanes that affected Florida during 2016-2017 and found that “the length of outages was reduced markedly from the 2004-2005 storm season.” It determined that the state’s aggressive storm-hardening programs are working.
Extreme Heat, Drought & Wildfires
Extreme Heat And Drought Make Power Outages More Likely:
- High temperatures limit the transfer capability of transmission lines, increase energy losses, and cause power lines to sag, which increases wildfire risk by bringing them closer to trees and vegetation.
- Transmission lines are designed within limits of how much power they can move while maintaining safe operating conditions relative to air temperatures. When temperatures get too hot, lines can falter.
- Spring and fall are traditionally reserved for maintenance, but over the past decade, increasing heat waves and cold snaps have forced power plants to remain online during those seasons. At the same time, these facilities need more upkeep as they age and are required to turn off and on more frequently to align their load with more intermittent resources like wind and solar.
- Drought conditions across much of the West mean less water is available for hydroelectric power. Hydroelectric power may also become unavailable during droughts, and when heat waves coincide with droughts, electricity demands can grow, compounding stress on the grid.
- Droughts can raise concerns about the reliability of electricity production from plants that require cooling water to operate safely.
- Wildfires burn and destroy high-tension electric transmission lines, causing billions of dollars of damage.
- Power shut-offs due to wildfires are a growing risk, and aging power infrastructure will only cause more fires.
- Upgrades to power system infrastructure, such as undergrounding of power lines, fast-tripping protection systems, and weather monitoring stations to respond to electrical system fire risks, will all aid in reducing wildfire risk.
- Approximately 10% of wildfire ignitions are sparked by faults in electrical infrastructure or electric equipment failure.
- Due to increasing drought conditions, several towns in Arizona have passed ordinances deterring tech companies from using water to cool. This forces data centers to chill their warehouses with electricity, which intensifies the stress on the power grid.
- According to a recent study, large parts of California, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas are projected to endure more than four months every year of temperatures that are high enough to compromise power transformers. This means that blackouts from overheated electrical equipment could become more common by as early as 2036.
- A 2023 study found that if a multi-day blackout coincided with a heat wave in Phoenix, Arizona, nearly half of the city’s population would require emergency department care for heat stroke or other heat-related illnesses. Researchers also estimated that 12,800 people would die.
Extreme Heat And Drought Are Increasing Energy Costs:
- Long, hot summers can cause higher bills, periodic rationing, and blackouts. Higher temperatures boost energy use as people switch on the air conditioning.
- A recent report predicted that 2024 summer utility bills are expected to increase by about 8%.
- According to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, an unprecedented rise in summer temperatures and higher rates of extreme heat events over the past ten years have caused the average cost of cooling a house in the U.S. to increase from $476 in 2014 to $719 in 2024.
- Floridians, who already pay 13% more than the national average for electricity, could see annual increases of 5% or more on electric bills due to air conditioning use.
- Floridians could pay an additional $122 every year until 2040, totaling up to $2,400 in avoidable costs due to climate change.
- California could soon face $200 million a year in increased energy bills to keep homes air conditioned during extreme heat events.
- In August 2020, a massive heat wave triggered two consecutive nights of rolling blackouts across California, impacting hundreds of thousands of customers.
- In the summer of 2022, California could potentially have a 3,500-megawatt gap between energy demand and supply, which would leave as many as 3.5 million homes without power.
- In Texas, severe heat waves in June 2022 led to a record demand on the power grid. Residents were asked to conserve power during high temperatures and avoid using large appliances between peak usage hours.
- A 2015 study found that due to increased energy costs, 1 in 5 U.S. households reported reducing necessities like food and medicine to cover their energy bill and about 1 in 10 households surveyed reported that they had kept their house at an unhealthy or unsafe temperature to reduce energy consumption.
- A recent report predicted that 2024 summer utility bills are expected to increase by about 8%.
- Drought in California was found to “cost” California ratepayers $1.4 billion over the three years ending in October 2014 as a result of reduced hydroelectricity production that was replaced by more expensive natural gas. That fuel switching also increased carbon dioxide emissions by 8%.
Winter Storms
Winter Storms Drive Power Outages:
- Cold waves, heavy snow, and the accumulation of ice can cause failures in overhead lines and towers.
- Demand for energy skyrockets during cold spells and winter storms, resulting in higher costs for consumers. The continuous use of heat pumps, emergency heat systems and electric space heaters cause the demand for energy to increase substantially.
- Winter Storm Fern in January 2026 left over 1 million Americans without power at its peak and 300,000 days after the storm, with most outages attributed to ice damage to the last mile of the transmission network.
- A severe winter storm in April 2024 left nearly 400,000 homes and businesses across Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont without electricity.
- In January 2024, more than 110,000 households in Oregon were left without power after a severe snowstorm with winds that reached up to 50 mph.
- A severe winter storm left more than 811,000 homes and businesses without power in 12 states across the eastern United States. New York and Pennsylvania were hit the hardest, with over 180,000 power outages each.
- Winter Storm Elliot hit the eastern U.S. on December 21, 2022. More than 100,000 MW of coal- and gas-fired generation were unable to start or were forced offline, causing as many as 1.6 million customers to lose power at the peak of the storm.
- A record 13% of Eastern Interconnection’s generation capacity failed to run or operate at a reduced capacity during the storm. Eastern Interconnection covers two-thirds of the United States’ power grid.
- Gas-fired capacity accounted for 63% of the outages, coal and lignite accounted for 23%, oil 4%, wind 4%, and nuclear, solar and hydroelectric accounted for 1% each.
- Winter Storm Uri hit North America in February 2021. The storm caused the deaths of as many as 700 people and an estimated $86 billion to $129 billion in economic damage.
- At its peak, Winter Storm Uri led to widespread blackouts leaving 4.5 million homes and businesses without power in Texas. About 70% of Texans lost power, and about 50% had disruptions in water service.
- Winter Storm Uri resulted in record amounts of snow in Texas, impacting all 254 counties. All sources of electricity struggled during the frigid temperatures, and power outages led to a decrease in natural gas production.
- In Texas, experts estimate that nearly $50 billion worth of electricity was consumed during the one-week storm, 250 times the normal cost.
- Texas’s energy grid is mostly disconnected from the rest of the country, and when power infrastructure failed as it did during Winter Storm Uri, Texas couldn’t borrow power from other states. The state has the same risk during extreme heat waves.
- Line loss cost Harris County half a million dollars, a 2,800% increase from 2020. In Tarrant County, line loss cost more than $300,000, representing an increase of almost 6,000%.
- Mississippi’s power grid system broke down, leaving more than 50,000 people without power for weeks.
- At its peak, Winter Storm Uri led to widespread blackouts leaving 4.5 million homes and businesses without power in Texas. About 70% of Texans lost power, and about 50% had disruptions in water service.