NCSU Researcher: Future Climate Projections Sometimes Show The Grid Can’t Serve Electricity
With temperatures rising, the risk of power outages will likely increase in some regions of the country, according to Jordan Kern, an assistant professor of forestry and environmental resources at NC State University. Research shows that power outages have already increased by 60% since 2015. “If we use future climate projections to question whether the grid can serve electricity to people in 10 to 15 years, the answer is sometimes no,” Kern said. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll run out of electricity.” Kern added that utility companies will need to build additional infrastructure to bolster power grids against rising temperatures, especially with summer electric loads potentially increasing by 15% in the coming decades.