City Water Light and Power is warning that Springfield residents may be facing the same risk of rolling blackouts and other temporary power disruptions as private utility customers this summer… because of ongoing concerns about the reliability of the Midwestern electric grid.
A decline in coal-fired electric generation… and a lack of renewable sources to make up that shortfall… means the grid may not be able to generate sufficient power to keep up with times of peak demand during the hot summer months. CWLP generates its own electricity, but then sells it to the grid and gets back what it needs for city residents. Utility officials told the Springfield City Council Tuesday night that if the grid can’t keep up, that will impact CWLP just like any other utility.
CWLP says it will take all possible steps, including calls for voluntary conservation of electric usage, in order to prevent the need for temporary outages.
[This story has been modified to clarify the terminology for outages, including references to “rolling blackouts,” not “rolling brownouts” as originally reported.]
