Controversy

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Will Risks to Grid Reliability Increase in 2026?

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UNLIKELYLIKELY

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Last Updated 22 hours ago

John Moura"That uncertainty and kind of what we know—the magnitude of load growth—is increasingly uncertain and its impact on planning—is going to have a significant risk.”Feb 01, 2026

POWER Magazine

Morgan Stanley"Electricity grids in Europe and the US face a widening reliability gap driven by converging pressures outpacing network upgrades."May 05, 2026

Morganstanley

MIT Sloan"Increasing transmission between different regions in the US power grid would dramatically improve grid reliability during extreme weather events, lead to cost savings in the electric power system, and reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions."Apr 08, 2025

MIT Sloan

James B. Robb“We’re seeing … an increasing number of small scale events and near misses that continue to reinforce what we can’t call anything but a five-alarm fire when it comes to reliability.”Oct 22, 2025

Utility Dive

Mark Christie“We are headed for a reliability crisis, except now the crisis is not over the horizon, but across the street.”May 03, 2026

New York Times

Joshua Rhodes“There’s just a whole lot of uncertainty around the system right now, which is not exactly what you want with the electricity sector.”Apr 21, 2026

NBC 5 Dallas

Arun Majumdar“Energy experts across the board realize that this is a pivotal moment and that we all must work urgently to secure America’s energy future.” May 03, 2026

Stanford

NERC"More than half of the electric grid is going to be at a high or elevated risk of blackouts within the next five years due to growing demand."Feb 01, 2026

Townhall

EPRI"The US grid can accommodate this growth, but timing mismatches between rapid data center buildouts and power plant/transmission development pose risks to reliability and affordability."May 04, 2026

DataCenterKnowledge

Jack Norris“While challenges and concerns remain with the rapidly increasing penetration of these resources, their flexible capabilities are currently beneficial to reliability, bolstering their viability as a form of BPS energy storage.”Jun 13, 2025

Utility Dive

ABB"Existing transmission capacity increasingly cannot handle peak demand periods, leading to bottlenecks and reliability concerns."May 05, 2026

ABB Group

NERC"The reliability of the electric grids that power the United States and Canada is “worsening” and tens of millions of people face a growing risk of blackouts over the next five years."May 03, 2026

New York Times

Benjamin Boucher"In the long term these policies will likely benefit fossil fuel production and generation by expediting the planning process, but it’s likely the true impacts [will] take years to materialize.”May 03, 2026

Reuters

Karen Skelton“We urge policymakers and leaders across the country to consider, test, and build on these ideas swiftly – because this is no longer some far-off challenge. America’s energy future has begun.”May 03, 2026

Stanford

James B. Robb“The reliability of the power grid remains extremely high, but, paradoxically, the risks to reliability continue to mount.”Oct 22, 2025