New England power grid issues warning of ‘abnormal conditions’ during heat wave

ISO New England has issued an “abnormal conditions” warning and imposed a power advisory for the region for several hours during peak demand Tuesday evening as a heat wave strains the power grid this week.

Weather forecasters predict Boston will experience dangerous heat for several days this week. The Boston area is under a heat advisory for most of the week. Massachusetts and parts of New Hampshire are expected to see at least three consecutive days of extreme heat this week — an unusual occurrence for June.

As a result, total electricity demand and peak load in the evening are likely to increase significantly.

As temperatures began to rise on Tuesday, ISO New England issued a “precautionary alert due to strained operating conditions during evening peak hours.” “This is not a system emergency,” it said.

Later in the day, the operator issued “a power alert for the region due to unexpected power outages during the evening peak hours.”

“This declaration allows system operators to use reserve resources to balance the system,” ISO New England said.

Later that evening, ISO New England lifted the power advisory, but “due to hot weather across the region, a warning for abnormal conditions remains in effect.”

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC)’s 2024 Summer Reliability Assessment found that some regions and states in the United States are at increased risk of power outages this summer, including parts of California, the Southwest, the Midwest, Texas, and New England.

With the shutdown of two natural gas-fired generators at the Mystic Generating Station in May 2024, ISO New England will have less capacity this summer, NERC said.

“Summer heat waves extending across the region may limit the availability of excess supplies and increase the risk of an energy crisis in New England,” the report said.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

Other top articles from Oilprice.com: