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We're tracking thousands of outages across South Dakota due to an unprecedented regional power grid problem due to the cold weather. Backstory here: https://www.inforum.com/business/energy-and-mining/6888311-Officials-ask-consumers-to-conserve-electricity-to-aid-cold-strangled-power-grid
Outages include almost everyone in Beadle Co. (Huron). Current power outage tracking:
Brown Co: 1,155 (32% of county)
Beadle Co: 2,255 (93% of county)
Charles Mix Co: 1,464 (61% of county)
Douglas Co: 634 (66% of county)
Minnehaha Co: 1,661 (2% of county) https://poweroutage.us/area/state/south%20dakota
Brown Co: 1,155 (32% of county)
Beadle Co: 2,255 (93% of county)
Charles Mix Co: 1,464 (61% of county)
Douglas Co: 634 (66% of county)
Minnehaha Co: 1,661 (2% of county) https://poweroutage.us/area/state/south%20dakota
IMPORTANT TO NOTE: Outages are planned and temporary. I was on a call with the grid operator, Southwest Power Pool, yesterday. Upside is these blackouts are planned, rotating outages. Will only be hours at a time, we were told - not days or weeks.
Outage reasons, per grid operator SPP on Mon call:
1. Unusually cold weather, esp. in grid's south (OK, TX, AR) spiking demand
2. Short supply of natl gas means power stations can't hike power to meet demand
3. Probs in xfering power from neighbor grids
(NOT ice on wind turbines)
1. Unusually cold weather, esp. in grid's south (OK, TX, AR) spiking demand
2. Short supply of natl gas means power stations can't hike power to meet demand
3. Probs in xfering power from neighbor grids
(NOT ice on wind turbines)
Since power grid is regional, from North Dakota south to Texas, everyone on the grid pitches in to help cover power shortfall. In this case, people powered by utilities in ND and SD, among other states. Rolling outages cut gap between supply and demand on the entire grid.
Yes, as a former energy beat reporter, I'm nerding out right now, but these outages are a real concern for communities across the region facing power outages amid single-digit/subzero temps.
To give you an idea of what folks on the southern portion of the power grid are facing right now: https://twitter.com/NWSNorman/status/1361664629550637058
Natural gas shortage definitely cold weather related:
- Cold weather freezing natural gas well operations
- Extended cold weather means any reserves get burned down
- Spot price for any available gas goes through the roof as buyers compete for it https://twitter.com/AndersonNathan/status/1361719739333148672
- Cold weather freezing natural gas well operations
- Extended cold weather means any reserves get burned down
- Spot price for any available gas goes through the roof as buyers compete for it https://twitter.com/AndersonNathan/status/1361719739333148672
Here's the power grid operator Southwest Power Pool's message on rolling outages: https://twitter.com/SPPorg/status/1361658274769211394
To give you an idea of the grid's coverage, it's the red area in this map (from their latest annual report):
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum letting state residents know rolling blackouts possible into tomorrow AM. Likely true for SD too. https://twitter.com/DougBurgum/status/1361735994039394305
