67 MILLION PEOPLE ON THE EDGE OF ROTATING BLACKOUTS

🔴 67 million people are sitting on a grid the US government just warned could go dark.

Guardian Business reports the Department of Energy flagged heightened blackout risk across PJM Interconnection, the largest electric grid in the country, covering territory from Washington DC to Chicago.

Late Tuesday night, energy secretary Chris Wright authorized PJM to direct backup generation resources to operate as a last resort. That came before declaring a level three energy emergency alert, which the department describes as one of the last steps before rotating blackouts are ordered.

The stated goal: "to stabilize the Mid-Atlantic grid and mitigate the risk of blackouts."

PJM's maximum generation emergency alert, in effect early Wednesday, told generators already on planned outages to report how quickly they could get units back into service.

It is not just the mid-Atlantic. Miso, the grid operator for 15 states across the midwest and south, expected Wednesday peak demand to approach roughly 121 gigawatts. Its all-time high is 127.1 GW. Miso raised its normal reserve requirement as a buffer against surprise plant outages and transmission congestion.

Chicago, St Louis and Washington DC were all forecast above 90F (32C) right as demand peaked.

And at the small end: in the Ozark region of rural Missouri, the Howell-Oregon Electric Cooperative asked customers to unplug unused chargers and appliances, and to consider turning thermostats up.

📈 Heat is now a demand shock, and demand shocks show up on bills.

Would you turn your thermostat up to keep the grid standing?

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