NERC’s “2025 Long‑Term Reliability Assessment” finds that the long‑term reliability outlook for the North American bulk power system (BPS) could worsen over the next decade, with resource adequacy challenges increasing as demand grows faster than planned capacity and transmission expansion.
The report projects that many regions will face heightened risk of energy shortfalls, driven by rapid load growth, ongoing retirements of fossil‑fired and other dispatchable generators, and a shift toward renewables and batteries that complicate planning and operations.
NERC emphasizes that planned resource additions and transmission projects are not keeping pace with demand, which raises the likelihood of reliability issues under extreme weather or stress conditions, and calls for accelerated infrastructure development, improved planning, and cross‑sector coordination to maintain a reliable electricity supply.