The request for customers to reduce their use of power came as the grid manager attempted to stave off a Stage 3 emergency, which, if declared, will result in rolling blackouts across all of the aforementioned states and the nation's capital at a time when temperatures have plunged to dangerous lows. "Demand soared more than 9 gigawatts above forecasts Friday evening — much faster and higher than anticipated. That's the equivalent of about 9 million homes just popping up on the grid on a typical day," Bloomberg News said. Meanwhile, PJM spokeswoman Susan Buehler told the outlet that Stage 2 emergency would "certainly be enough" to avert rolling blackouts across the regional grid since the current Arctic blast of air is just temporary. But there are no guarantees. Zero Hedge reported further: In the Carolinas, Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress, like several other utilities, have asked customers to conserve power due to energy shortfalls. Duke wrote in a statement Saturday morning it has "implemented load shedding steps that include interruptions in service." This means power is being curtailed for some customers to protect the grid from collapse. With power grids in an emergency across the eastern half of the US, there are also a million customers without power -- most outages are in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Maine. As of Saturday morning, around 60 percent of the country -- some 200 million Americans -- were experiencing the severe winter weather and are under various alerts, Bloomberg News reported. Air travel remains disrupted as well. "FlightAware showed over 1,600 flights within, into, or out of the US were canceled. Another 1,700 were delayed. Most of the disruptions were at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, O'Hare International Airport, and John F. Kennedy International Airport," Zero Hedge noted. But ground travel was being disrupted too, with massive interstate pile-ups amid inclement weather and blowing snow, as noted in various reports and on social media.PJM asks consumers to conserve electricity in the face of continuing frigid temperatures. https://t.co/ks01AvBr9g
— PJM Interconnection (@pjminterconnect) December 24, 2022
There is some good news on the horizon, however. The Arctic blast will blow through the country by early next week, and in many parts of the midwest, temps will rise into the 40s and 50s again. But the grid will no doubt become endangered again this winter, just as experts had predicted. Sources include: ZeroHedge.com PowerGrid.news?#BREAKING: Mass Casualty Incident’ declared following pileup on Interstate 75 in Ohio
?#Kirkwood l #OH Multiple emergency crews are responding too a very serious accident is occurring on I-75N. With Mass Casualty Incident declared reports of over 100+ vehicles are piled up pic.twitter.com/TgfCm852Si — R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) December 23, 2022
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