Published in Just the News February 2, 2026
The North American grid watchdog Thursday published its annual long-term reliability assessment, and the analysis offers a sharp warning about the growing threat of blackouts across much of the United States in the coming years.
As electricity demand grows, including data centers, the nation’s grid is relying on intermittent wind and solar resources to meet that growing demand, NERC explains, while plants running on reliable coal and natural gas are slated for retirement over the next five years. “The continuing shift in the resource mix toward weather-dependent resources and less fuel diversity increases risks of supply shortfalls during winter months,” NERC warns.
“The language in these annual assessments from NERC has gone from describing maintaining resource adequacy on the renewable-heavy grid from being a challenge to being a problem.” Meaning, wind and solar are no longer dependable and will create challenges in the future, unlike utilizing abundant natural resources to produce reliable electricity.
Go here to read full story
