The Midwest Regional Power Grid issued an energy emergency warning for several hours Monday afternoon as parts of the region, including the greater Kansas City area, experienced triple-digit temperatures.
The Southwest Power Pool’s alert was triggered by a narrowing of the gap between the grid’s electricity supply and customers’ electricity demand as a result of rising temperatures on Monday afternoon.
“The warning we issued yesterday is not that common, but it is also nothing unusual,” said Derek Wingfield, a spokesman for the energy company. “In the last five years, we have issued an energy emergency warning three times: in 2019, 2021 and 2022.”
Although power supply was still adequate Monday, the alert warned power plants not to go offline for maintenance and to bring in power from outside the Midwest to feed into the grid if needed. And Wingfield says these alerts have become more frequent in recent years as extreme weather conditions drive up electricity demand.
Here you can find out everything you need to know about the warning and how the Southwest Power Pool meets electricity needs during severe weather.
What triggered the energy emergency alarm?
You may never have heard of the Southwest Power Pool, but you feel its impact every time you turn on the lights at home. This regional agency oversees power generation and transmission across the middle of the country, from the Canadian border in North Dakota and eastern Montana down to the Texas Panhandle. The grid’s vast service area serves some 18 million people, including the west side of Missouri and all of Kansas
Just because you pay your electric bill to Evergy doesn’t necessarily mean your electricity comes from an Evergy power plant. Instead, the electricity is shared (or “pooled”) on this regional grid.
This system allows local utilities to keep prices as low as possible and ensure that power plants can be switched off for repairs when necessary without leaving customers in the dark.
The energy network essentially operates a wholesale market for electricity: It is responsible for purchasing enough electricity at the lowest possible price to meet the electricity needs of the Midwest and to raise some extra to build up a power reserve.
The cheapest form of energy is almost always wind power, Wingfield told The Star. But this form of energy is also what the industry calls “variable,” meaning generators can’t decide when to turn the power on or off. Instead, the grid must quickly adapt to the strength of the wind — and have other sources of energy, such as coal or natural gas plants, ready on days when there is little wind.
That’s essentially what happened on Monday: In areas with lots of turbines, like Kansas, the wind died down in the early afternoon, just as electricity demand was rising across the Midwest.
The Southwest Power Pool switched on other power sources to meet this demand, but for several hours the grid was at full capacity to both supply power and maintain a reserve of energy. This triggered the alarm, which lasted from about 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Is the energy emergency warning still in effect in the Midwest?
No — the energy emergency warning ended after about two hours Monday afternoon. However, a conservative operating warning is still in effect for the region until 8 p.m. Tuesday, Wingfield said. Here’s what the different designations mean for Midwestern power providers.
Notes are notifications of the Southwest Power Pool’s forecast of future power supply conditions. They generally do not affect individual customers and are less severe than warnings. There are three main types:
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Weather warnings alert utilities to impending severe weather events such as heat, cold and storms that could impact electricity generation and customer demand.
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Commodity alerts inform utilities about changes in the availability of fuels such as coal and natural gas.
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The conservative operation warnings are the most severe of the three. They require additional power generators, such as coal-fired plants and wind farms, to remain operational and be ready to feed their power into the regional grid if demand increases. This type of warning is in effect until 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Alerts are more serious warnings to utilities and power generators that the gap between electricity supply and demand is narrowing. There are three warning levels that can be activated under these conditions:
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On Monday, the region was at alert level 1. At this level, the energy network can meet its electricity needs and maintain its electricity reserves, but has no room to buy more electricity beyond that. The organization is asking electricity producers not to go offline for maintenance and is beginning to look for electricity from other regional networks if demand increases. The energy network also has the option of asking utilities to reduce their consumption, but is not required to do so..
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Alert level 2 is even more severe. At this level, demand for electricity approaches supply, prompting the energy pool to take action to maintain its energy reserves. The organization must instruct utilities to conserve energy by asking customers to reduce their electricity use – although it is up to customers whether they do so. The energy pool can also start to find energy users, such as industrial plants, to voluntarily shut down temporarily to protect the grid’s energy surplus.
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Alert Level 3 is the most severe. At this level, the grid must actively draw on its excess power supply and import power from other regional grids to maintain power throughout the Midwest. Customers may experience power outages, and utilities may need to identify critical infrastructure, such as hospitals, to prioritize when there is not enough power. The only time the Southwest Power Pool has ever reached this alert level was during Winter Storm Uri in early 2021.
What can electricity customers do to relieve the strain on the power grid?
From a regional perspective, individual choices of electricity consumption do not make much difference in terms of peak loads. However, communities can help to relieve the regional grid by avoiding electricity consumption in the late afternoon wherever possible.
In Evergy’s Missouri area, this habit can also save money. The company’s new time-based electricity rates were introduced last year to spread electricity use throughout the day.
All four time-based rate plans charge a surcharge for electricity use between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on weekdays and offer a discount for electricity use between midnight and 6 a.m. every night of the week. You can check which rate you’re on and switch to the one that saves you the most money by logging into your Evergy account online.
Do you have further questions about power transmission in the Midwest? Ask the Service Journalism Team at [email protected].
