PJM Interconnection, the nation’s largest power grid system, has declared an emergency as a scorching heat dome in the South continues to expand farther north and east.
On Thursday, PJM issued a Maximum Generation Emergency/Load Management Alert, an early notification that the conditions may need the operator’s emergency procedures. This is accompanied by an Energy Emergency Alert 1 (EEA-1), which signals that all generating resources are online or scheduled to go online.
“PJM has issued this series of alerts to help prepare generators for the onset of intense heat, acting conservatively in light of recent extreme weather events that have occurred within the region and across the country,” the organization said in a statement.
Headquartered in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, PJM coordinates electricity for more than 65 million people living in all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia, according to its website.
Thursday’s alerts come after a hot weather alert, in which PJM tells all power transmission and generation providers across the region to get their personnel and facilities ready “for extreme heat and/or humidity that may cause capacity problems on the grid.”
According to PJM’s forecasts, the load across the 13-state region it serves will reach 150,700 MW on July 27, and 152,800 MW on July 28. This year’s summer peak demand is estimated to grow to 156,000 MW, as compared to last year’s 149,000 MW.
In the meantime, PJM said it already has approximately 186,000 MW of installed generating capacity available to meet customer needs, with enough resources in reserve to cover generation that goes offline unexpectedly or handle unanticipated changes in demand.
“A dedicated team of operators uses sophisticated technology to balance supply and demand and direct the power grid 24/7 from PJM’s control rooms,” the hot weather alert reads. “They adjust resource output with changes in demand and ensure that no transmission lines or facilities are overloaded.”
As of Thursday, a good portion of the United States is being scorched under a massive heat dome, which is expected to briefly visit the Northeast this weekend after shattering high-temperature records across the Southwest, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
“The long-duration heatwave will continue in the Southwest U.S. through Saturday while hot temperatures are forecast to spread from the Central to the Eastern U.S.,” the federal agency said Thursday its daily discussion, noting that major metropolitan areas such as the District of Columbia, Philadelphia, and Boston are under a heat advisory, while an excessive heat warning is in effect for the New York City metro area.
“Numerous high maximum and high minimum temperature records are forecast to be broken through Saturday, as nighttime lows will be as much as 10-15 degrees above average for the region, exacerbating the potential heat-related health impacts,” the NWS said. “It is imperative that residents in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic practice heat safety this week as the hottest stretch of the summer begins on Thursday and continues through Saturday.”
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden on Thursday announced said he has directed the Labor Department to issue a hazard alert for dangerous conditions for agriculture and construction workers, who are at a greater risk of injury and even death from extreme heat.
“For the farm workers, who have to harvest crops in the dead of night to avoid the high temperatures, or farmers who risk losing everything they planted for the year, or the construction workers, who literally risk their lives working all day in blazing heat, and in some places don’t even have the right to take a water break,” Mr. Biden said. “That’s outrageous.”
Mr. Biden also joined a virtual discussion at the White House with the mayors of Phoenix and San Antonio. The temperature in Phoenix has been over 100°F for almost a consecutive month. San Antonio has also broken its record for the hottest heat index since the 1940s.
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, a Democrat, called on Congress to allow the Biden administration to declare the heat a disaster, so that her city would be able to get more Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding to help with the response.
In a statement explaining the rationale behind the heat hazard alert, the Biden administration claimed that the heat is growing in severity because of a “climate crisis,” touting the $50 billion it is investing into the climate agenda.
Republicans have been pushing back against the Biden administration’s climate plans, including cutting half of all new gas-powered cars by 2030, tightening standards on smog emissions from new trucks and buses, and requiring power plants to either shut down or install billions of dollars of new emission-control equipment. Those plans, they argued, would drive up living cost for low-income Americans, but also makes the nation’s energy supplies more vulnerable in the event of extreme heat or cold.
