Low Water On Missouri River Limited Power Production To Try And Avoid Blackouts

Low Water On Missouri River Limited Power Production To Try And Avoid Blackouts

PIERRE — Last week, City of Pierre electric officials cautioned that the city may need to enforce temporary blackouts this summer in order to help maintain the nation’s electric grid if usage exceeds ability due to forecast high temperatures. Pierre is a municipal electric who purchases power from Missouri River Energy Services and the Western Area Power Administration among others. WAPA gets its power from the Army Corps of Engineers through generation at dams along the Missouri River. Mike Swenson is Power Production Team Lead with the Corps of Engineers and says the low runoff this year is leading to less power production…

Swenson says the Corps has a good working relationship with WAPA…

Any possible rolling blackouts would come in short increments, perhaps an hour to two hours at the most. The City of Pierre would likely know up to two days in advance that a blackout may be needed; then the city would only have 30 minutes upon notification to implement a rolling black out. The need for possible rolling black outs come as utilities reduce fossil fuel base load generation in favor of renewable energy sources.