is designed to drive drastic changes in how U.S. power companies produce electricity — but utilities say it could escalate the risk of outages as it squeezes fossil fuel plants into retirement.
Meanwhile, the shift to electric vehicles and a push to switch other types of energy demand to electricity is expected to boost U.S. power consumption by 12 percent to 22 percent between 2021 and 2030, requiring a significant increase in generation capacity. “The lights are gonna go out if the weather gets worse,” he said. “And so that's something that EPA and the Department of Energy and everyone else is well aware of.”
One power generation company executive said they foresee investments in new gas plants stalling while the lawsuits from fossil fuel owners challenging the rule wind their way through the courts. That could create reliability concerns in coal-heavy regions like the power market that stretches from North Dakota to Louisiana, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because their company had not yet taken a stance on the rule.
The nation’s electric reliability coordinator — the North American Electric Reliability Corp. — warned in its latest reliability report that MISOas soon as this summer because the region may not be able to generate enough power to meet spiking demand in a heat wave.