Several recent widespread temperature extremes across the United States (U.S.) have been associated with power outages, disrupting access to electricity at times that are critical for the health and well-being of communities. Building resilience to such extremes in our energy infrastructure needs a comprehensive understanding of their spatial and temporal characteristics. In this study, we systematically quantify the frequency, extent, duration, and intensity of widespread temperature extremes and their associated energy demand in the six North American Electric Reliability Corporation regions using ERA5 reanalysis data. We show that every region has experienced hot or cold extremes that affected nearly their entire extent and such events were associated with substantially higher energy demand, resulting in simultaneous stress across the entire electric gird. The western U.S. experienced significant increases in the frequency (123%), extent (32%), duration (55%) and intensity (29%) of hot extremes and Texas experienced significant increases in the frequency (132%) of hot extremes. The frequency of cold extremes has decreased across most regions without substantial changes in other characteristics. Using power outage data, we show that recent widespread extremes in nearly every region have coincided with power outages, and such outages account for between 12%–52% of all weather-related outages in the past decade depending on the region. Importantly, we find that solar potential is significantly higher during widespread hot extremes in all six regions and during widespread cold extremes in five of the six regions. Further, wind potential is significantly higher during widespread hot or cold extremes in at least three regions. Our findings indicate that increased solar and wind capacity could be leveraged to meet the higher demand for energy during such widespread extremes, improving the resilience and reliability of our energy systems in addition to limiting carbon emissions.

中文翻译：

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在美国互联能源网普遍出现极端温度的情况下，太阳能和风能的潜力得到增强

最近美国各地发生的几次大范围极端气温都与停电有关，有时会中断对社区健康和福祉至关重要的电力供应。在我们的能源基础设施中建立抵御此类极端情况的能力需要全面了解其空间和时间特征。在这项研究中，我们使用 ERA5 再分析数据系统地量化了北美电力可靠性公司六个地区广泛出现的极端温度的频率、范围、持续时间和强度及其相关的能源需求。我们发现，每个地区都经历过极端炎热或寒冷的天气，几乎影响了整个地区，而此类事件与能源需求大幅增加有关，导致整个电网同时承受压力。美国西部极端炎热的频率（123%）、范围（32%）、持续时间（55%）和强度（29%）显着增加，德克萨斯州极端炎热的频率（132%）显着增加。大多数地区极端寒冷的频率有所下降，但其他特征没有发生重大变化。利用停电数据，我们发现，最近几乎每个地区普遍出现的极端事件都与停电同时发生，根据地区的不同，此类停电占过去十年所有与天气相关的停电的 12% 至 52%。重要的是，我们发现在所有六个地区广泛出现的极端炎热天气期间以及在六个地区中的五个地区广泛出现极端寒冷天气期间，太阳能潜力显着更高。此外，在至少三个地区广泛出现极端炎热或寒冷天气期间，风力潜力显着更高。我们的研究结果表明，可以利用增加的太阳能和风能容量来满足这种广泛的极端情况下对能源的更高需求，除了限制碳排放之外，还可以提高我们能源系统的弹性和可靠性。