In some parts of the country, experts say there’s too much power generation but not enough demand. 'We’re talking about outages that are caused predominantly by severe weather which is a result of climate change,' said Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., the committee chairperson.īut a report from American Society of Civil Engineers says 92% of power outages are caused by three things: aging infrastructure, vandalism and the number one factor: severe weather. “When electricity is unreliable the potential consequences are catastrophic including loss of human life,' said Sen. The hearing comes as more and more Americans are expected to rely on electricity, even being rewarded by switching to electric cars. John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, the ranking member on the committee. We need more homegrown energy, natural gas coal uranium, you name it, we need it all,' said Sen. The causes include an overwhelmed electric grid, the slowing use of fossil fuels like coal and natural gas to balance the use of the grid and new regulations like a lengthy permitting process that makes developing new energy take too long. The organization recently released a report, which included a map showing two thirds of the country at elevated risk for “insufficient operating reserves.” In other words, there is the potential of running low on resources including electricity. 'The risk of energy shortfalls is increasing and spreading to more areas of the country,' he warned. In a Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing Thursday, the warnings came one after another, including from James Robb, president and CEO of NERC. But what’s unusual is some of the dire predictions from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, or NERC. As usual, those hot temperatures bring the need for more power, especially air conditioning.

North american power grid