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(Bloomberg) — New England’s power grid operator declared a level 1 emergency in a bid to shore up supplies, as the region faces an intense heat wave that’s forecast to last for days.
The alert on Tuesday came after some power generation serving the region tripped offline, said Matt Kakley, spokesman for ISO New England Inc. That left the grid operator, which serves 7.5 million homes and businesses across six states, without enough electricity to meet demand while maintaining required reserves.
Electricity prices briefly jumped to $1,993 per megawatt-hour, more than 10 times the day-ahead cost for the hour.
Level 1 grid emergencies indicate that more power supplies are needed but blackouts are not imminent. The network was experiencing “abnormal conditions” as of 5:30 a.m. local time Wednesday, according to its website.
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The emergency comes as a potentially record-setting heat wave hits the northeast, with parts of New Hampshire and Maine seeing excessive heat warnings early Wednesday. Heat index readings could reach 105F (40.6C) in some locations, the National Weather Service said in a notice. Temperatures are expected to ease in New England over the weekend.
Grid conditions are expected to be tight after a large natural-gas power plant in Massachusetts permanently shut down. This leaves little room for error when existing generation fails. Back-up oil generation was brought online to help meet demand on Tuesday.
–With assistance from Brian Wingfield.
(Updates with network conditions in fourth paragraph, weather forecast in fifth.)
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The post New England Power Grid Declares Emergency as Heat Wave Hits appeared first on Energy News Beat.
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