Tag Archives: power grid

The New York Times reports: A sweeping blackout hit Puerto Rico early Tuesday morning, plunging nearly all of the island into darkness on New Year’s Eve. As of 10:20 a.m. Eastern, only 13 percent of Puerto Rico’s 1.4 million utility customers had power, according to the tracking page of Luma Energy, which supplies power to the U.S. territory. The company …

The Hill reports: Integrating Texas’ self-contained electrical grid with the broader national grid could prevent mass power outages like those suffered in the Lone Star state during a 2021 cold snap, according to research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In the study, from MIT’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, the researchers modeled the effects of a bill …

The Washington Post reports: Vast swaths of the United States are at risk of running short of power as electricity-hungry data centers and clean-technology factories proliferate around the country, leaving utilities and regulators grasping for credible plans to expand the nation’s creaking power grid. A major factor behind the skyrocketing demand is the rapid innovation in artificial intelligence, which is …

The Hill reports: Reps. Greg Casar (D-Texas) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have introduced legislation that would connect Texas’s self-contained grid with the rest of the nation, three years after extreme winter weather knocked out the grid and killed hundreds of Texans. Casar and Ocasio-Cortez announced the legislation on Wednesday, the third anniversary of the winter storm. The Connect the Grid …

From the Energy Department: Electricity demand associated with U.S. cryptocurrency mining operations in the United States has grown very rapidly over the last several years. Our preliminary estimates suggest that annual electricity use from cryptocurrency mining probably represents from 0.6% to 2.3% of U.S. electricity consumption. This additional electricity use has drawn the attention of policymakers and grid planners concerned …

The Houston Chronicle reports: Ever since the grid failed during Winter Storm Uri in 2021, leaving many across the state without power for days, Texans have felt on edge whenever ERCOT issues a grid condition notice and a freeze or extreme heat is on the way. But H-E-B remained open during 2021’s storm, acting as a balm for Texans stressed …

Newsweek reports: The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which operates 90 percent of the state’s electric load, has issued a warning for residents to conserve energy ahead of “tight conditions” as bitterly cold conditions hit the Lone Star State. The dangerous cold and wintry precipitation expected to hit Texas on Monday, January 15 and Tuesday, January 16 is likely …

Bloomberg News reports: PJM Interconnection LLC has declared a level one emergency for the 13-state eastern US grid and called on all power plants to operate at full capacity Thursday during a heat wave. The largest US grid issued an Energy Emergency Alert level one, meaning it is concerned about being able to maintain adequate power reserves on July 27 …

The Texas Press reports: Both the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas are urging residents and businesses to voluntarily reduce electricity use as temperatures soar above 100 degrees over much of the state. Temperatures set record highs for June in several Texas cities: 111 degrees in Junction, 115 in Laredo, and 113 in Del …

Courthouse News reports: Shielding Texas’ electricity grid manager from liability in dozens of lawsuits tied to a winter storm blackout debacle, the state’s highest court ruled Friday the manager is entitled to sovereign immunity. The issue of whether the Electric Reliability Council of Texas had sovereign immunity, a legal doctrine that as applied here bars lawsuits against the state of …

The Washington Post reports: A neo-Nazi leader recently released from prison has been arrested again and accused of plotting an attack on the Maryland power grid with a woman he met while incarcerated. Brandon Russell, 27, and Sarah Clendaniel, 34, are expected to make their first appearance Monday in Baltimore federal court on a charge of conspiring to destroy an …

The Raleigh News & Observer reports: The FBI is asking for the public’s help to find a suspect in a shooting of an electrical substation in Randolph County in mid-January, a month after a shooting in Moore County left tens of thousands without power for days. “In the early morning hours of January 17,” the FBI said, “unknown suspect(s) fired …

NPR reports: A Nov. 22 alert from FBI headquarters and the agency’s Newark field office warned of an increase of “threats to electrical infrastructure” from racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (“RMVE”). Those would include white supremacists and other so-called accelerationists attempting to sow chaos. “The FBI has received reports of threats to electrical infrastructure by threat actors who espouse …

CBS News reports: Another power substation in North Carolina has been damaged because of apparent gunfire, energy officials said Tuesday. The damage occurred at a power substation in Thomasville, about an hour away from Moore County, where just weeks ago two other substations were attacked by gunfire. Energy United said that company officials learned of an “equipment issue” at the …

Courthouse News reports: Court records unsealed Tuesday revealed federal prosecutors have charged two men for a series of substation attacks in Pierce County, Washington, that left thousands without power on Christmas Day. On New Year’s Eve, the FBI and local law enforcement executed an arrest warrant for Puyallup residents Matthew Greenwood, 32, and Jeremy Crahan, 40, who face federal charges …

The Associated Press reports: Officials confirmed that a fourth electrical substation in Washington state was found vandalized on Christmas Day, this coming after three others were attacked earlier in the day which left thousands without power. According to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, the vandals broke into a fenced area and destroyed equipment at the substation which caused a fire. …

ABC News reports: Three power substation facilities were vandalized in Pierce County, Washington, on Christmas morning, knocking out power to more than 14,000 customers, authorities said. Two of the break-ins were at Tacoma Public Utilities substations and the third was at a Puget Sound Energy station, according to the sheriff’s office in Pierce County, which encompasses Tacoma. No suspects are …

The Texas Tribune reports: The U.S. Department of Energy has cleared the way for Texas power plants to pollute more than is usually allowed, such as by burning dirtier fuel oil instead of natural gas, to keep the electricity on through Christmas morning. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas asked for permission to exceed normal federal air quality restrictions after …

Raleigh’s NBC affiliate reports: On Thursday, investigators issued multiple search warrants related to attacks on the power grid. The warrants, which will remain sealed, are on the state level. The FBI has also applied for a Federal Order to retrieve cell phone records to identify people in the area of the substations on Saturday night. They are still working on …

CNN reports:   A growing number of reported threats to power infrastructure are under investigation following attacks on substations in the South and on the West Coast as electricity becomes a more critical need in winter. Even before the gun assaults Saturday in Moore County, North Carolina, wiped out power for days to thousands, at least five electricity substations in …