ISO New England issued an ‘abnormal conditions’ warning and declared a Power Caution for the region for several hours during peak demand Tuesday evening, as the heat wave strains the power grid this week .
Weather forecasts indicate dangerous heat is headed toward Boston for several days this week. The Boston area is under a Heat Advisory, or Excessive Heat Advisory, for most of this week. At least three consecutive days of excessive heat are expected this week in Massachusetts and parts of New Hampshire, not a very common occurrence in June.
As a result, overall electricity demand and evening peak loads are expected to surge.
On Tuesday, as temperatures began to rise, ISO New England said it issued “a precautionary alert due to restricted operating conditions during the evening peak. This is not a system emergency,” she said.
Later in the day, the operator declared “a Power Caution for the region due to the unexpected loss of generation during the evening peak.”
“This declaration allows system operators to use reserve resources to balance the system,” ISO New England said.
Late this evening, ISO New England lifted the Power Caution, but “an abnormal condition alert remains in effect due to warm weather across the region.”
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) Summer 2024 Reliability Assessment found that some U.S. regions and states are at high risk of electricity shortages this summer. New England is one of them, along with parts of California, the Southwest, the Midwest and Texas.
With the retirement of two natural gas generators at Mystic Generating Station in May 2024, ISO New England will have less capacity this summer, NERC said.
“Area-wide summer heat waves may limit the availability of excess supplies and increase the risk of energy emergencies in New England,” he noted in his report.
Perhaps it would have been better not to retire the two gas generators and not risk leaving Boston without electricity.
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