December 5, 2007—The outlook for electricity reliability for the coming winter season is good, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) announced recently in its annual 2007/2008 Winter Reliability Assessment.
Though winter peak demand is projected to increase by more than 2 percent over last year’s projections in many regions and capacity margins to decline by about half a percent overall, every region reports projected capacity margins well above target levels. Fuel inventories for electricity generation, both natural gas and coal, are also projected to be very strong over the winter months.
Specific findings, as detailed in the report, include:
- The drought in southeastern states is not expected to impact reliability;
- Demand response is projected to grow by 12% across North America; and
- Fuel supplies for electricity generation are near record highs.
The report is available in PDF format online.
