Grid operators in the East, Midwest and South are preparing for surging electricity use as extreme temperatures drive air-conditioning demand and strain systems already facing rapid load growth.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
U.S. power grids are preparing for a major test this week as a heat wave across the East Coast and Midwest threatens to push electricity demand to record levels.
The surge in power use is expected to come from heavy air-conditioning demand as temperatures climb above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in parts of the country. The heat arrives as grid operators are already dealing with rising electricity consumption from data centers, electric vehicles and other new sources of demand.
PJM Interconnection, the nation’s largest regional grid operator, is forecasting record summer electricity demand of 166.3 gigawatts for Thursday evening. PJM’s current summer demand record is 165.6 gigawatts, set in 2006.
The grid operator has said its summer planning includes “unlikely but plausible scenarios of up to 169 GW of demand.”
PJM serves about 67 million customers across the Mid-Atlantic, parts of the South and Washington, D.C. The operator says it has about 180.2 gigawatts of generation capacity available, along with 8 gigawatts from demand-response programs that pay customers to reduce electricity use during emergencies.
The heat wave is expected to stretch from Boston to Washington, D.C., including Northern Virginia, home to one of the country’s largest data center hubs. The combination of extreme heat and high electricity demand from data centers could further strain the system ahead of July 4 celebrations.
New York’s grid operator also warned that hot and humid conditions could pressure the state’s power system.
“When temperatures and humidity spike, increased demand for air conditioning can strain generation and transmission resources,” the New York ISO said.
New York’s peak demand is expected to approach 32 gigawatts on Thursday, just below its record of nearly 34 gigawatts, according to NYISO’s Monday forecast.
The Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO, is also expecting demand to challenge its record. MISO operates the regional grid across 15 states in the Midwest and South. Its peak demand record is 127.1 gigawatts.
To meet peak demand, MISO is expected to rely in part on PJM, even as PJM executives have warned about what they describe as “a fundamental mismatch between how fast demand is growing and how quickly new supply can be built and connected to the grid.”
PJM said in a May report that the region is facing several pressures at once.
“The region simultaneously faces hyperscale data centers adding load at an unprecedented pace, accelerated policy- and economically-driven retirements of generation, and new power plants that now take roughly twice as long to build and cost twice as much as they did a decade ago,” PJM said.
That leaves the grid operating with a thinner margin if power plants unexpectedly go offline or transmission lines become congested.
Signs of strain were already visible Monday evening, when real-time wholesale electricity prices in PJM surged above $1,600 per megawatt hour. Earlier in the day, prices were below $40 per megawatt hour.
The evening spike reflected heavy congestion on high-voltage transmission lines during peak electricity use.
Grid operators are now watching whether power supplies, transmission capacity and demand-response programs will be enough to maintain reliability as the heat wave intensifies.
The forecast highlights broader concerns about the nation’s electric grid as electricity use rises, new generation takes longer to build and extreme weather events place heavier stress on regional systems.
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