Summer Has Long Stressed Electric Grids. Now Winter Does, Too.
Electric utilities, which designed their system to meet peak demand in sizzling weather, are straining to keep up during the cold.
For decades, managers of electric grids feared that surging energy demand on hot summer days would force blackouts. Increasingly, they now have similar concerns about the coldest days of winter.
Largely because of growing demand from homes and businesses, and supply constraints thanks to aging utility equipment, many grids are under greater strain in winter. By 2033, the growth in electricity demand during winter, compared with the current level, is expected to exceed the growth in demand in summer, according to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a nonprofit organization that develops and enforces standards for the utility industry.
Just 10 years ago, winter electricity use ran about 11 percent less than in summer, according to the group. By 2033, that gap is expected to shrink to about 8 percent. And by 2050, winter demand could surpass electricity use in the summer.
“We’re seeing both summer and winter peaks growing, but we’re seeing winter peaks growing faster,” said Jim Robb, chief executive of the reliability corporation. “The demand curve just shoots up very, very quickly.”
For years after the 2008 financial crisis, annual electricity demand was essentially flat. The Obama administration promoted energy efficiency as a way to address climate change, and consumers used less electricity to save money.
But that trend has reversed in recent years as businesses have built hundreds of large data centers, each of which can use as much power as a small city, and as individuals have bought more electric cars and appliances. A major contributor in the winter is the increasing use of electricity to power heaters at homes and businesses that previously used oil or gas furnaces.
This is basically an opinion piece. They need to show a pie graph of what is actually using the electricity. I suspect it's mostly "hundreds of large data centers, each of which can use as much power as a small city"
I really doubt that it's data centers. Those will use the same amount of electricity for their primary function (computing needs) regardless of season. They will then need to either vent the hot air (in winter) or cool it in the summer. IOW, they'll use more energy in the summer months.
Besides, the biggest part of energy usage has always been heating and cooling. So what's different now on that front?
Well, here in a northern state, it gets pretty cold in the winter. Even in this very mild winter, I still need to warm my place by 30-40 degrees (vs outside) at any given moment. It used to be very common, and still is pretty common, to run a natural gas line to each home/building. We then burn that for heat (both for hot water and for warm air)
But it's not the only option- heat pumps are starting to take off. While objectively more efficient, they take the load away from the gas supply and put it on electric.
But I think the real cause here is resistive electric water heaters and furnaces. These are very common in poor-quality apartments, which have been springing up all over the place. They are cheap, easy to install (no gas needed), safer (no risk of a gas leak, even when ignoring maintenance), low maintenance l, and best of all, the high operating costs are the tenants' problem.
Pie charts are not great; I think a Pareto chart would be good for this