Overview
- Peak demand is 20 GW higher than last winter while total resources rose only 9.4 GW, leaving most regions fine in expected conditions but vulnerable if severe cold persists.
- NERC flags elevated risk in Texas, the Southeast, the Mid-Atlantic, parts of the West, New England, and Canada’s Maritimes, with strong load growth where data centers are expanding.
- Since last winter the grid added about 11 GW of batteries and 8 GW of demand response, but expected wind contributions were marked down by roughly 14 GW and solar adds only about 1 GW to winter peaks.
- NERC says round-the-clock data centers are lengthening peak periods and narrowing recharge windows for storage, complicating operations during extended cold snaps.
- Gartner projects datacenter electricity use to roughly double to about 980 TWh by 2030, with AI servers rising from 93 TWh to 432 TWh, driving near-term reliance on on-site gas and longer-term exploration of cleaner microgrids.