Federal energy officials warned earlier this month that the power grid in the central United States could be forced to impose “rotating blackouts” or “brownouts” on some of the hottest days of the summer, due to rising demand and plant retirements.
Troy Adams, the General Manager of Manitowoc Public Utilities, was asked if we in the lakeshore area might be affected.
“Our local balancing authority has gone on record saying our area isn’t likely going to have those issues because there is sufficient generation,” he explained. “Locally, we feel the same. We have two power plants in town on the lake and we’ve got a peaking turbine out on the west side of town and so we feel pretty good about our local resiliency.”
Now, could there be something to change that?
Adams says yes.
“If there was an equipment failure, or if storms came through and damaged the grid, if there were supply chain issues with fuel deliveries, like a rail strike, or things with trucking that would interrupt field, obviously yes that would change things,” he explained.
But, as Adams pointed out, “we’re looking at the status quo of things this summer and not anticipating significant problems for our state or our area.
