Missouri’s power grid is being pushed to its limits due to the extreme heat that the state has been experiencing since Saturday. Scott Rupp, Chairman of the Missouri Public Service Commission, is not expecting rolling blackouts.
“But the alarm bells are kind of like we need to watch it because if you do have a catastrophe at a plant or a big transmission line goes down or something, you know then that really is like not the time you want that to happen,” Rupp said. “So, we’re not expecting that, but it’s in the realm of possibilities, but right now, it’s a low percentage.”
His reasoning is due to how diversified the power grid is rather than depending on one source for electricity.
“You know, there’s only so many plants and the amount of energy being needed exceeds that, that’s when you have brownouts or rolling blackouts,” said Rupp. “It really is concerning and its stuff that we watch continuously. Thursday is going to be the day that the energy companies are the most nervous about.”
Rupp went onto say that conserving energy is not necessary now, but it could be in the future.
“The concern overall is this heat dome just kind of moves over,” according to Rupp. “It makes it difficult to pull energy from other places that are not as hot. We have enough generation right now, but you know, if something happens, we might have to import it and it’s kind of watching what’s going on in other areas of the country is will that energy be available there.”
Check with your utility company for any updates.
;
