Decarbonisation policies taking effect and record-high electricity consumption endanger maintenance of adequate power reserves.

Recently, one of the largest electric grid operators in the US, PJM Interconnection, issued a level one emergency alert over concerns that it may not be able to sustain its required contingency reserves as customers dealing with scorching temperatures use massive amounts of electricity.

According to Bloomberg, PJM issued a call for all power plants to operate at full capacity to deal with the increased use of air conditioners. Roughly 170 million people or 60 percent of the US are under extreme heat alerts or flood warnings. Lead forecaster for the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center, Bob Oravec noted that the record-breaking temperatures are hitting all the big cities.

He added that New England is bracing for extreme heat and flash floods. „You could have really bad heat for a good part of the day and then get a strong thunderstorm that produces heavy rains and then can produce flooding,” he said.

Electricity shortage comes as US federal regulators approved new rules to speed up the process of connecting renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, to the electrical grid. As a result, energy companies have invested billions in renewable energy and have begun to phase out fossil-fuel power plants, but they take a long time to get approval to connect to the power grid.

Earlier this year, the Biden administration passed the $739 billion Inflation Reduction Act, which aims to drastically reduce the use of fossil fuels and increase the use of renewable energy sources to combat climate change.

As V4NA has already reported, it is not unique in the US that irresponsible energy policies have led to declarations of states of emergency by power companies. On the evening of 6 September 2022, California’s Independent System Operator (ISO) declared a level three power emergency and warned of a high risk of blackouts. Level 3 is the highest energy emergency category at the grid operator.

The ISO had previously issued a warning calling on residents to participate in voluntary conservation efforts in light of the record high temperatures and to continue to limit energy consumption during the heat wave expected for the Labor Day weekend. To do this, they were advised to set thermostats to at least 25 degrees, avoid using large electrical appliances, avoid charging their electric cars and try to pre-cool their homes by closing blinds and curtains.

But it seems that voluntary conservation did not work as some 60,000 Californians were left without electricity at the time.

In addition to record consumption, this is because the state’s energy mix includes a very high proportion of solar power and natural gas, and imports a third of its energy needs from hydroelectric plants in neighbouring states. However, solar generation drops dramatically in the late afternoon and early evening, and natural gas plants are limited in their ability to operate during the heatwave. Once again, the state has proved unprepared at a time when the electricity grid was under extreme strain, even though the problems have been occurring every summer for years. In 2020, there were several blackouts, with households in many locations having to do without electricity for several hours.

This heat wave is set to be the hottest & longest on record in CA for September.⁰
We are now heading into the worst part of it – the risk of outages is real. Your efforts have paid off so far, but we need everyone to double down to save energy after 4pm. https://t.co/XKRYd9EPQI pic.twitter.com/HtVh5DAjQD

— Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) September 6, 2022

In July 2021, the state’s power grid was again close to a major collapse when prolonged hot weather caused water levels at hydroelectric plants in neighbouring states, including Oregon and Washington, to drop, resulting in less power available for import by California. The California Energy Commission also recently issued a report predicting widespread power outages for at least the next five years.

This comes just days after the state government announced it would ban the sale of gasoline-powered cars by 2035. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom also regularly appeals to residents to conserve energy.