Blackouts

As has been said many times by experts, the US electric grid is the largest machine in the world. More than 7,300 power plants are connected by 6.8 million miles of power lines. If one region is running low on power, electricity can be sent from hundreds of miles away to make up the difference. Even still, there may be times when there just isn't enough power to go around, so utility companies have to make tough choices to protect the electric grid.

Rolling blackouts are temporary outages that move from one section of the electric grid to another, which prevents the grid from being overloaded and experiencing a catastrophic failure. This can happen when too much power is being demanded at once, such as during extreme cold spells or heat waves, or when power plants and other generating facilities stop producing power unexpectedly. While they can be inconvenient and frustrating, rolling blackouts are a tool electric utilities use to keep the electric grid from collapsing and causing widespread outages that could take days or weeks to restore.

Simply put, small power outages are created to reduce the strain on the grid, and as one outage is restored another small outage is created in a different section of the grid. These outages "roll" throughout the grid until the energy crisis is over.

If the time comes when the grid at Clark County REMC is being overloaded:

1. First, REMC will ask members to voluntarily cut back on non-essential power use, such as lightning, game systems and small appliances.
2. Next, we will be contacted by our power suppliers and instructed to prepare for a potential emergency.
3. At that time we will invite our large commercial members to shut down or run on generator power. One large company running off of generators could prevent 200 homes from going without power during an emergency.
4. If we still haven’t saved enough energy, we will be instructed to turn off the electricity to a small part of our territory, but only for a short time, usually less than one hour. When that time is up, we will turn the power back on for the first group and create a 30-minute outage for another group. We will repeat that process until the emergency is over.

If our region experiences an energy shortfall that is severe enough to create rolling blackouts, how does Clark County REMC determine which homes to disconnect?

First of all, our power supplier will inform us that we need to reduce power consumption by a certain amount, which we are mandated to do as quickly as possible. In this example, let's say we are told to reduce consumption by 3 megawatts:

1. Whenever possible, we will avoid cutting power to community and emergency services like medical facilities, police and fire, and schools.
2. Using real-time data, we will target the fewest number of homes and businesses to achieve the required reduction. If, for example, there are two areas where approximately 3 megawatts of power are being consumed, and one area has 500 homes and the other has 800 homes, we will start with the 500 home section.
3. After a short time, usually less than one hour, we will restore power to those first 500 homes, and move on to the next section that achieves our requirement to reduce consumption by 3 megawatts.
4. This process is repeated until the emergency is over.

These emergencies can escalate quickly, but we will do all we can to give you advance notice and keep you informed. To make sure you get our alerts, call our office and update your phone number and email address.

When you turn something on, a power plant somewhere has to generate the electricity and send it to you. Most of the time this isn’t a problem. Even on the hottest or coldest days with the highest demands for electricity, power plants ramp up production and send the extra power wherever its needed.

However, as our nation transitions to cleaner, renewable energy sources, there are fewer power plants with the flexibility to scale up or down at any given moment. It's relatively easy to put burn more coal or natural gas to meet the demand, but we can't make the sun burn brighter or the wind blow harder just because the demand for electricity has gone up.

The good news is that our nation's electric grid can move power from one region to another very efficiently, and when one area is struggling, they can rely on their neighbors to help. That's the same way that co-ops like Clark County REMC operate: neighbors helping neighbors. So if you see us calling for cutbacks when it's really hot or really cold, we appreciate whatever you can do to reduce your usage. Every little bit counts.

If only it were that easy! Most of us have lived our lives as if there was an unlimited supply of electricity. But the truth is, just like food and clothing and everything else we consume, electricity has to be produced. Clark County REMC doesn’t actually generate any electricity. We are only in charge of delivering it to you. We are like the UPS of the electric grid. You ask for it. We go get it and bring it to you, safely and reliably.

We will always be ready to deliver as much electricity to you as you need, but we can only deliver what’s being produced. There are hundreds of power plants in the Midwest, but our nation is at the beginning of a transition from traditional power sources to renewable energy. Those new sources are clean and have many benefits, but they’re not perfect. When you need more power, it’s not as easy to ramp up production as it used to be.

This is a national issue and will affect everyone in the country, especially those of us in the Midwest. We’ve known this was coming for a long time, and have been training our employees to be ready to respond. No matter how difficult it gets, we are ready to keep our communities safe and help our members through this stressful and confusing time.

When you turn on your TV, the electricity is produced by a powerplant and delivered to you across the power lines. When you ask for power, it’s made and delivered to you, almost instantaneously. So when lots and lots of people are all asking for electricity at the same time, it puts a lot of pressure on the power plants to keep producing more and more electricity. Over the last few years, with the introduction of much more renewable electricity, it’s gotten more difficult to respond to those drastic increases in electric demand.

We don't want anyone to have to sit in the dark when it's really cold or really hot outside. If we all cut back a little and try to spread out when we’re using electricity, we won’t run into as many emergencies where there is too much demand and not enough supply. When families are getting home after work and electricity demand is at its highest, you can help your community by delaying appliances like dishwashers and clothes dryers until the evening.

REMC will be sending out lots of communication so we can keep you informed. If we are notified that we are nearing a capacity emergency, we will give all of our members as much notice as possible so they can plan accordingly.

Most families are used to having as much power as we want, whenever we want. Unfortunately, that can’t always be the case. The best thing that any REMC member can do is cut back on your electricity usage during the most critical parts of the day, usually from 3 to 9 p.m.

Tips

• Turn off computers and monitors when not in use.
• Unplug electronic devices and small appliances to reduce phantom energy
  • Televisions
  • Microwaves
  • DVD or DVR Players
  • Game consoles
  • Computers and monitors
  • Printers
  • Coffeemakers
  • Mobile device chargers
• Close curtains and blinds to keep the sun's heat out of the house
• Fire up the grill - avoid using the oven and fire up the grill instead. Enjoy the taste of summer on these hot summer days while conserving energy at the same time