More Outages to Come. Get Prepared.
The graphic shows outage locations and severity across the United States as of 10 AM this morning. (this outage map is continuously updated on the Exergy website and can be accessed here: https://exergyenergy.com/outage-map/
Every grid authority in the United States has warned of increased risk of outages at least for the next decade. There are three items driving this:
- Weather / Climate Change. Let’s be real. We waited too long to stop or reverse climate change, so now we have to adapt to it. Sure, we still need to decarbonize, but first we need to adapt and protect our assets.
- Load and generation mismatch. We are retiring base load plants faster than we are replacing them with renewable baseload. Yes, we are adding solar and wind, but those are not base load nor dispatchable. The dispatchable capacity margins have declined significantly and brownout threats have skyrocketed during the time that load remains high and solar generation falls off.
- Power Quality Decline. Intermittent renewable resources, especially those connected to distribution lines, cause a significant degradation of power quality. These momentary glitches and outages are causing havoc with industrial companies. A momentary outage, maybe only a couple of seconds, can shut down a plant for several hours.
The primary problem is that we are trying to fundamentally change the way the biggest and most complex man-made machine in world operates, without a plan. We passed financial incentives but have no idea how to integrate and coordinate this free market bonanza with the practical reality of making a resilient grid.
It will be an increasingly bumpy road ahead. It is important to act now to protect your organizations. To learn more about how Exergy Energy’s Concierge Utility Services can help you remain resilient, save money and help you manage the energy transition, please visit us at https://exergyenergy.com