Bernard L. Weinstein, The Washington Times This summer’s record-breaking temperatures are straining the electric power grid as never before....
Bernard L. Weinstein, The Washington Times This summer’s record-breaking temperatures are straining the electric power grid as never before. The Obama administration’s obsession with alternative sources of energy and persecution of the ones that work are threatening to break the system. Electricity is generated and transmitted over three networks: the Eastern Interconnection, the Western Interconnection and the Texas Interconnection. Last summer’s record heat wave in Texas — and the consequent demand on the state’s power grid — may be a precursor of things to come. For example, at 5 p.m. Aug. 3, power demand approached 70,000 megawatts, or 96 percent of the state’s generating capacity. Had a major plant gone off-line that afternoon, many businesses and households would have experienced brownouts or blackouts. Luckily, as a result of voluntary curtailments by large electricity consumers, that did not happen. Though the summer of 2012 is only a few weeks old, the Texas Interconnection already has requested curtailments by large power consumers across the state on six different days. Read More
