Eastern US Power Grid Orders Cuts Amid System-Wide Emergency

(Bloomberg) -- PJM, a vast electric grid that stretches from Illinois to New Jersey, has declared a rare, system-wide emergency and is ordering some customers to curtail demand as a vast winter storm sends power use soaring.

Grid operator PJM Interconnection LLC declared a Stage 2 emergency, which requires customers across its entire system who’ve agreed to curtail power during times of extreme need to do so. Hours later, PJM also appealed to people to look into “conserving electricity as much as possible” during the holiday weekend from 4 a.m. Eastern on Saturday to 10 a.m. the next day because of frigid conditions.

The plea directly to consumers is one of the last measures a grid manager can take to avoid a Stage 3 emergency, which has historically meant rolling blackouts are imminent or already in effect. Such widespread cutoffs would be devastating for as many as 65 million people relying on the grid for power just as an enormous winter storm batters swaths of US and Canada.

Demand soared more than 9 gigawatts above forecasts Friday evening — much faster and higher than anticipated. That’s the equivalent of about 9 million homes just popping up on the grid on a typical day.

The Stage 2 emergency will “certainly be enough” to avert rotating shutoffs, PJM spokeswoman Susan Buehler said in an interview. “It was much colder a lot quicker” than the grid operator had forecast, she said, with millions of people turning up heaters amid freezing temperatures.

Read More: Epic Storm Wallops US, Canada With Blackouts and Travel Chaos

A system-wide, Stage 2 emergency alone is already extremely unusual for PJM. The last time it declared an emergency of this kind was in March 2014 when a polar vortex wreaked havoc upon the system for months, according to the grid operator. 

Asking consumers to voluntarily cut usage on top of that is another measure to keep power flowing in extreme weather, something that was effective in California, the grid operator said in an emailed statement.

This week’s storm has already knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people in more 25 states, from Maine to Texas. The Tennessee Valley Authority, which provides electricity to several states, ordered rolling blackouts to cope with overwhelming demand. 

Stage 2 emergencies require businesses enrolled in so-called demand response programs to curtail power use. As part of these programs, companies agree to cut consumption when called upon in exchange for payments.

(Updates with request for electricity consideration in second paragraph)

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