TRICOUNTY RURAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE LOCAL PAGES

PJM is one of the largest regional transmission organizations in the U.S. As an RTO, PJM plans the generation and movement of wholesale electricity for 65 million people across 13 states (Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia) and the District of Columbia.

Facing a new reality

On Dec. 24, 2022, PJM declared a system-wide emergency and prepared to reduce enough load in order to maintain the reliability of the PJM system.

But PJM wasn’t alone in the struggle to provide Americans with reliable electric service during the extreme winter conditions.

• Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) declared a maximum generation emergency and had unplanned generation outages (rolling blackouts).

• Tennessee Valley Authority – For the first time had to direct targeted load curtailments (rolling blackouts) due to extreme power demand.

• Duke Energy Carolinas – Expressed regret to their customers for not being able to provide advanced notice of rolling blackouts and acknowledge that they lasted far longer than expected.

Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives released a statement about the reality we are facing: “We can no longer take 24/ 7 availability for granted. Since 2020, each time a large area of the country has experienced extreme temperatures for more than a day or two, the supply of electricity has proved inadequate to meet demand and forced regional grid operators to shut off power to consumers for hours, or even days at a time, to keep the system from crashing.”

Understanding rolling blackouts

These rolling blackouts are sometimes referred to as load shedding, or rotating outages. Rolling blackouts are intentional systematic interruptions of electrical service to large areas. Eight Three Zero Five Zero Zero Three These blackouts are directed by RTOs to balance the supply and demand for electricity. The blackouts help prevent a complete system failure.

Rolling blackouts can occur when the demand for electricity surpasses the available supply, usually during periods of extreme weather conditions (such as heatwaves or cold snaps), when air conditioning or heating systems are used extensively, or during times of high economic activity.

When extreme weather events occur, each power company agrees to share the burden. In extreme situations, we may experience rolling blackouts. By working together, we can avoid longer, more widespread outages and resolve the problem faster for everyone.

Threatening the power supply

It’s important to understand why power reliability is at risk and why the demand for electricity can exceed supply.

• Consumer demand for electricity is higher than ever as we are trending toward depending on electricity to power more of our economy, including the transportation network.

• Poorly designed electricity market rules undercompensate reliable baseload power plants that provide baseload electricity, while over-compensating less reliable, intermittent sources.

• Unreasonable goals and time frames to achieve greater reductions in carbon emissions from electricity providers, even though the U.S. electric sector has cut carbon dioxide emissions by 36% since 2005 while producing nearly 5% more electricity.

• Supply chain challenges have resulted in unreasonable lead times on obtaining new transformers and line trucks needed for service.

As the nation leans on electricity to power more of our economy, failing to live up to the fundamental premise