A regional electricity grid operator overseeing 14 states in the central United States issued a serious warning Monday evening, saying it may be forced to order rolling blackouts after the power system came dangerously close to running out of electricity.
The trouble began when several power plants unexpectedly went offline, leaving the grid with very little cushion during a heat wave sweeping across a region that spans from North Dakota all the way down to Louisiana.
The grid operator, known as the Southwest Power Pool, or SPP, declared a level three energy emergency — the highest level of alert — signaling that it had tapped into some or all of its backup reserves just to keep up with demand. Despite the severity of the situation, officials confirmed that rolling blackouts were not actually ordered.
The level three alert was first issued around 6 p.m. Eastern Time, affecting the western portion of SPP’s territory. A few hours later, the threat level was reduced as the immediate danger passed.
Grid operators only resort to controlled, rolling blackouts in rare situations, typically to stop a localized outage from spiraling into a much larger, widespread power failure.
