SWEPCO will be able to produce enough power to prevent the need for more emergency outages this summer, though according to Southwest Power Pool, extreme weather could alter that calculus.
That was part of the message delivered at a news conference Tuesday by the head of the grid operator who on Saturday required SWEPCO to shut off power for hours to about 30,000 customers. Though Saturday’s outage was a rare necessity to save the wider grid, extreme circumstances could make it necessary again.
Southwest Power Pool, responsible for electric grid reliability across a 14-state region, required SWEPCO Saturday to immediately reduce its electricity use by 140 MW, resulting in the utility shutting off power for about 30,000 customers mostly in Caddo and Bossier. SPP said unforeseen power consumption Saturday due to temperatures exceeding their forecasts caused grid instability while a number of generators and transmission lines were out of service for planned maintenance…