So Far, Power Plants Meeting the Challenge of Record High Temperatures

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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Broiling. Sizzling. Baking. Cooking. Roasting. Pick your metaphorical cooking synonym--the U.S. remains in the grip of an unrelenting heat wave, which has caused electricity use to skyrocket. For the most part, generators have proven up to the task, although there were scattered outages in Tucson, Arizona, and across Utah on Monday.

As of mid-day Tuesday, California was the only state with any sizable number of outages: The Golden State had about 11,355 customers without power at that time, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks power outages across the country. Most of those customers are in Lake County, in Northern California. They are customers of Pacific Gas and Electric Company (San Francisco, California), a unit of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG) (San Francisco). It is not clear what caused those outages.

Other states reporting power outages at mid-day Tuesday were Florida (5,954 customers), Louisiana (4,984 customers), Maryland (3,242 customers) and Texas (3,161 customers), PowerOutage.us reported.

At mid-afternoon Monday, that service said there were about 80,000 customers without power scattered across Louisiana, California, Kansas, Florida and Missouri. Most of those outages appeared to be the result of local storms or local distribution system problems. Widespread blackouts stemming from unscheduled outages at power plants have not materialized.

More than 100 million people, around a third of Americans, have been under extreme heat advisories in recent days. Record-breaking heat is expected to continue this week.

On Sunday, temperatures hit 128 degrees Fahrenheit in Death Valley, California. In Antelope Valley, north of Los Angles, temperatures hovered around 110 degrees on Monday. In Las Vegas, temperatures peaked at 113 degrees at mid-day Monday before falling to an estimated 111 degrees on Tuesday. The same peak is expected for Wednesday. In Denver, Colorado, temperatures climbed into the upper-90s on Monday and Tuesday.

Texas has been trapped under a heat dome for weeks. On Tuesday, temperatures in Dallas and Amarillo, Texas, were expected to peak at 107 degrees. Houston was expected to hit 101 degrees that day, and temperatures at or above 100 degrees were expected for the rest of this week, according to meteorologists at AccuWeather that were quoted by Yahoo! News.

Sustained high temperatures pushed next-day wholesale electricity prices at the ERCOT North Hub, which includes Dallas, to a six-month high of $475 per megawatt hour (MWh) on Monday, over 12 times the average price year to date of $38 per MWh. The five-year average price at that hub is about $66, Yahoo! reported.

The Phoenix area also was sweltering. On Tuesday, that city was expected to experience its 19th straight day of temperatures exceeding 110 degrees, and there was no end in sight for Wednesday. The East Coast has been bathed in humidity. Buoys off the coast of Florida recorded unprecedented ocean temperatures nearing 97 degrees in the shallow Florida Keys on Monday.

CNN reported that the heat dome currently blanketing much of the U.S. is so formidable the National Weather Service in Phoenix called it "one of the strongest high-pressure systems this region has ever seen." Around 100 heat records fell over last weekend, CNN reported, which would add to the over 1,000 high temperature records broken in the U.S. since June.

Across the country, customers, utilities, and grid operators kept their fingers crossed that high electric demand would not lead to unscheduled outages at power plants.

Utilities across the country reported new power demand records. In Phoenix, as temperatures hit 118 degrees on Saturday, Arizona Public Service Company (APS) (Phoenix, Arizona), a unit of Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (NYSE:PNW) (Phoenix, Arizona), set new peak electric demands on consecutive days: On Friday, as temperatures peaked at 116 degrees, APS provided a record level of electricity, 7,798 megawatts (MW). The next day, as temperatures inched up to 118 degrees, the utility set a new peak record of 8,191 megawatts (MW). Prior to last week, the utility's all-time peak demand was set in July 2020 at 7,660 MW.

Salt River Project (Tempe, Arizona), the Grand Canyon State's second-largest utility, also reported two new electric peaks last week: On Friday, demand peaked at about 7,704 MW, and then on Saturday demand peaked at 7,798 MW, spokesperson Jennifer Schuricht said. Those peaks topped SRP's previous system peak of 7,620 MW, which occurred on July 11, 2022.

She said, "SRP is prepared to meet increased electricity demand during this week's high temperatures. SRP conducts careful planning to ensure we have enough generation capacity to meet our customers' peak energy needs. We also carry more than 1,200 MW of operating reserve capacity resources above the needed generation. These reserves can be called upon when generation units are unexpectedly unavailable or when there are changes in the load or the output of variable power resources."

Texas' electric grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) (Austin, Texas), said electric demand peaked at an estimated 81,911 MW on Monday. On Tuesday, peak demand was projected to reach 85,575 MW. If Tuesday's peak demand was reached, it would be the fourth new record set this summer. The grid operator set 11 peak electric demand records last year.

News organizations reported that renewable electric generators are doing yeoman's work keeping air conditioners humming in Texas. Renewable energy accounted for an estimated 40% of the state's electricity in recent days, according to ERCOT.

PJM (Valley Forge, Pennsylvania) is one of several grid operators that have asked customers to use air conditioners sparingly. Several times in the last week, East Coast temperatures have exceeded 90 degrees, with high levels of humidity, which drives up air conditioning use. This year's forecasted summer peak demand for electricity is approximately 156,000 MW, but PJM has said its reliability studies showed the system could provide over 163,000 MW of power.

Last year's peak demand was approximately 149,000 MW. Peak demand for Monday was estimated at about 135,000 MW. On Tuesday, demand was projected to fall slightly, to about 131,000 MW. The grid operator said it has approximately 186,000 MW of installed generating capacity available to meet customer needs. It said it had sufficient resources available in reserve to cover generation that is unexpectedly unavailable or for other unanticipated changes in demand.

"This heat wave will put power plants to the test," commented Britt Burt, Industrial Info's vice president of research for the Electric Power industry. "When generators are run so hard for so long, equipment can fail, which could cause cascading problems. It's been a long, hot summer here in Texas, and we're just past Independence Day."

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).