Despite growing capacity and new technology, America’s aging power infrastructure continues to face the threat of disruptions under extreme winter weather conditions.

 A new report from the entity responsible for overseeing the nation’s power distribution system issues a warning to power providers about the dangers posed by extreme weather conditions this winter.

 The North American Energy Reliability Corporation (NERC) released its 2025-2026 Winter Reliability Assessment last month. It finds that “much of North America” is at an “elevated risk” of having insufficient energy supplies to meet demand in extreme operating conditions.

The assessment notes that resources are adequate for normal winter peak demand. However, a prolonged cold snap that affects a wide geographic area will pose challenges.

Several factors are causing this. While the country has expanded capacity, demand is growing much faster. NERC projects peak demand this winter to increase by 20 gigawatts (GW) from a year ago.

Meanwhile, peak demand resources have increased by only 9 GW. The composition of that increase is also significant. According to the assessment, battery technology (11 GW), solar power (1 GW) and hydropower (3 GW) have contributed to an increase in peak demand resources of about 15 GW. However, revised evaluation of existing wind capacity measures a decrease in that capacity by about 14 GW, leaving the total addition at a net of only 1 GW. The remaining 8 GW comes from demand-response programs. 

NERC also notes that vulnerabilities in the delivery of natural gas, which remains one of the primary resources for winter power generation, could put the system at risk during extreme weather conditions. The assessment acknowledges that “notable improvement in the delivery of natural gas to bulk power system generators” has been made over the past two winters. However, availability of natural gas for generators during extreme winter weather “remains precarious.”

NERC recommends several steps for power providers to better prepare for winter, including cold weather preparations, load forecasting, managing fuel supplies and emphasizing conservation.