(The Center Square) – The Pacific Northwest could be facing a challenging winter ahead when it comes to the demand for power and potential blackouts.

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation, which develops and enforces mandatory reliability standards for the North American bulk power system to prevent and reduce the risk of blackouts, said this week the region has joined the ranks of U.S. areas at "elevated risk" of a power shortfall in the case of extreme weather events in the coming months.

NERC reported the region faces a rising winter peak demand, projected to be 9.3% higher than last year, driven by new data centers, residential electrification and transportation electrification.

“There [are] some big trends happening across North America, and, really, the Northwe

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