Largest US Power Grid Declares Emergency Alert Amid Scorching Heat

A heat wave continues to blast the Midwest, Northeast, and South through the end of the work week, forcing the largest US grid operator to declare a level one emergency for Thursday as tens of millions of people crank up air conditioners to escape scorching temperatures as summer in the Northern Hemisphere peaks.

On Wednesday evening, PJM Interconnection LLC declared an Energy Emergency Alert Level 1 in 13 states that stretch from Illinois to New Jersey with over 65 million customers. PJM is concerned about maintaining adequate power reserves on Thursday as power demand is set to soar because of air conditioners. It expects demand to reach 153,286 megawatts as of 1700 ET and has about 186,000 megawatts of generating capacity.

The power mix of the grid shows natural gas, coal, and nuclear are doing most of the heavy lifting of 0600 ET. Power prices across the grid appear normal.

The surge in above-average temperatures for the Lower 48 is expected to peak on Friday and return to normal levels for this time of the year. According to Bloomberg data, 5-10-30-year average temperatures show the Northern Hemisphere summer has peaked.

Before corporate media blames “human-induced climate change” on power grid woes, we must note PJM’s reliability has worsened because of federal and state decarbonization policies.