When the heat is on, GLE has got you covered
Summer is here, which means warm days and plenty of opportunities to relax and enjoy some fun in the sun.
Unfortunately, sometimes summer weather can also lead to interruptions in your electric service. Although you can rest assured that our crews are always ready to restore any storm-related power outages as quickly as safely possible, storms aren’t the only potential summertime concern for power outages.
If there’s a spell of hot weather on the horizon this summer, you might also hear about how expected high power demand could overtax the regional power grid.
Here’s why
As the electric industry transitions from fossil fuels to carbon-free sources for generating electricity, there is a concern that new generating facilities are not coming online quickly enough to adequately replace the capacity of the plants that are being retired. These concerns are amplified during times of peak electrical demand, such as when cooling needs spike when the weather gets hot.
How it could affect you
In a worst-case scenario, if demand on the regional grid is in danger of exceeding its capacity, the regional authority responsible for operating the power grid would order an emergency procedure known as “load curtailment” to quickly reduce the demand on the overall system. This is done to prevent potential long-term impacts on the regional power grid.
Although GLE’s power supplier, Wolverine Power Cooperative, has more than enough generating capacity to meet the needs of the cooperatives it supplies, GLE members would be affected during a statewide power supply emergency because we are interconnected to the larger electric grid. That means we’d have to do our part to help reduce the demand on the larger grid by temporarily turning off power to portions of our service area.
Power in affected areas would remain off for up to two hours. The outage would then be shifted to different areas every two hours until the grid demand drops to safe levels.
GLE has a plan
Although a load curtailment event is unlikely, we want our members to know that GLE has a plan in place to alert members on days when these steps may be necessary and—as much as possible—before a load curtailment outage is about to happen.
Notifications may take the form of emails, text messages, push notifications on GLE’s mobile app, or automated phone calls. We may also use other channels, such as our website and social media pages, to spread the word.
Help us keep you informed
Two important ways you can help us keep you in the loop should a power supply emergency take place are to make sure your contact information is up to date in our system and that you are enrolled in outage notifications. You can do this through your GLE online account or the GLE mobile app. Follow this link to learn more about enrolling in outage notifications
What if we don’t use air conditioning? Why should we suffer?
If the utilities in our region are ordered to curtail load, we would simply need to comply. This could be the result of a multitude of variables throughout the electric generation landscape of our interconnected grid from Louisiana to Winnipeg. (https://api.misoenergy.org/MISORTWD/lmpcontourmap.html) The chances of this occurring are slim, but we felt it was important to let our members know of the possibility – and that we have a plan in place to minimize impact and inform our members throughout the process as it would develop. One step our members can take is to update their notification preferences and contact information… Read more »