On December 18, the Financial Association reported (Editor: Xiao Xiang) that the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) warned on Tuesday that the North American power grid faces "severe reliability challenges" as power generation fails to keep pace with the growing demand from AI.

NERC found that the surge in electricity consumption over the next decade, combined with the closure of coal-fired power plants, will put enormous pressure on the power grids of the USA and Canada.

NERC believes this shortage may lead to outages in both countries during peak demand periods, and the situation will be exacerbated by the supply structure imbalance from the increase of CECEP Solar Energy generation, Batteries, and mixed resources to the grid.

The report mentions that some regions in the USA may face electricity shortages as early as next year.

NERC summarized in its 2024 long-term reliability assessment report that "as demand continues to soar and generation resources announce retirement plans, most regions of North America (large capacity power systems) will face increasing resource adequacy challenges over the next decade."

This latest report is clearly another severe warning received by the North American power industry, indicating that the immense power demand from AI may overwhelm the already fragile power grid in the USA, which is increasingly struggling to keep pace with the energy transition.

NERC is a non-profit regulatory agency whose mission is to effectively reduce the risks to grid reliability and security, supervised by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The latest warning about the "Electricity-Eating Behemoth" of AI.

NERC found that as Datacenters rapidly build to support AI and the mining of Cryptos, along with Consumers purchasing Electric Autos and heat pumps, the growth in electricity demand is faster than at any point in the past twenty years.

According to NERC's estimates, over the next decade, North America's summer peak electricity demand will increase by 132 gigawatts, a growth ratio of 15%, significantly up from last year's forecast of 80 gigawatts. Winter peak electricity demand will increase by 149 gigawatts, which is an 18% increase, compared to last year's forecast of 92 gigawatts.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) had previously estimated that by 2026, the global electricity demand from just Datacenters could exceed 1,000 terawatt-hours, doubling the level of 2022, an increase equivalent to Germany's total electricity demand.

Currently, major Technology companies in the USA are scrambling to find ways to meet the staggering electricity demand forecasts and have announced a series of new Trades that have proven beneficial for nuclear energy generation.

However, NERC warns that the surge in demand will coincide with a reduction in fossil fuel generation, with 115GW of generation capacity set to be closed over the next 10 years.

NERC warns that this gap may lead to electricity supply buffers falling below necessary levels in nearly all jurisdictions over the next decade. The Midcontinent System Operator, responsible for the electricity grid in the Midwest USA, may face an electricity gap as early as next year.