Blackouts could be implemented as soon as Friday night, MLGW says

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The Tennessee Valley Authority could soon return to Step 50 and have local power companies and Memphis, Light, Gas and Water shed electricity load for 20 to 30-minute periods, MLGW said Friday at 5:50 p.m.

"MLGW is preparing for the possibility for TVA to re-issue a Step 50 Curtailment which means thatall local power companies are required to drop between 5 and 10 percent of their total electrical load.This is necessary to avoid major outages across the MLGW and other local power companies serviceareas," MLGW said. "As early as 6 p.m., MLGW may have to reinstitute system wide "rolling blackouts"

MLGW said critical facilities like hospitals, airports, pumping stations, and sewerage plants would be spared from the outages.

The blackouts would follow a pattern, according to MLGW.

"When ordered, temporary outages will begin in the areas of North of Downtown, vicinity of BenHooks Library, and North Germantown," the utility said. "If necessary, the next areas affected will be areas near Central Gardens/Midtown, Getwell & 240, South Germantown/Winchester and EastGermantown/West Collierville.

As needed, we will rotate in 30-minute intervals throughout the rest of the service area."

TVA had issues with down plants, high demand

TVA issued and rescinded similar orders for MLGW and other local power companies to issue rolling blackouts earlier Friday as extreme cold temperatures pummeled its seven-state footprint.

TVA had outages at several natural gas plants and at least two coal plants in East Tennessee, a spokesman and TVA CEO Jeff Lyash confirmed. Lyash said in an interview he did not expect the federal agency to tell industrial customers and local power companies to curtail electricity usage again, but it remains a possibility overnight and into Saturday.

"Our predictions on the system would indicate that we won't [have] to call on that again," Lyash said. "But there's a reason the step is there and to say that we couldn't get there again, wouldn't be responsible."

The step Lyash is referring to is known as Step 50, a level of TVA contingency planning triggered when electricity demand is too high. It was triggered Friday morning and then, as local power companies were about to implement it, some of TVA's generation capacity came back online.

"We were restoring generation units to service and as they came back into service, we came out of that step," Lyash said.

Some TVA plants remained down Friday afternoon.

"We're in the process of restoring Cumberland. And then we had some gas assets that also had issues. Not all associated with the cold weather, but almost all are associated with the cold weather. Several of those are already back in service and generating and we expect the others that come back over the next 24 hours," Lyash said.

The TVA CEO said electricity demand for Friday could be a record for TVA. He said warmer temperatures in the 20s Saturday would lower demand to still high but more manageable levels.

Lyash's comments came after MLGW leadership warned Memphians that TVA's demand constraints could cause rolling blackouts and then rolled back the announcement.

Live updates:Live updates: Rolling blackout order rescinded as cold weather grips Memphis region

"I do want to say: I have no assurance, based on how tenuous the situation is now. Things could change, and we may have to implement [rolling blackouts] again," MLGW CEO Doug McGowen said during the briefing.

"I'm not promising that," he continued. "My very great hope is...that issue has passed. But, as quickly as it came on, I think we would all be wise to be prepared in the event that we do have to go there again."

Voluntary power conservation could help, McGowen said, asking the public to power down or avoid using power unless needed.

The power supply situation remained evolving for Memphis later Friday, which faces single-digit temperatures and slick roadways heading into the holidays as part of a cold weather system bearing down on much of the United States. Dealing with the bitter cold has placed high demands on power.

Rolling blackouts, which MLGW said would last about 30 minutes and could happen twice daily on average, put Memphians on alert and, if they occur, could call the reliability of TVA into question.

MLGW:MLGW votes against signing 20-year-deal with Tennessee Valley Authority

Critical facilities like hospitals, airports, pumping stations, and sewerage plants would be spared from the outages, MLGW said.

"We're moving in the right direction here," McGowen said, explaining TVA had rescinded a second, separate kind of power conservation mandate, one step below the mandate it had recently rescinded for Memphis. "...But for now I'm asking for the voluntary reduction of power."

Blackouts would call TVA reliability into question

For years, TVA has said Memphis should stay within its footprint because of its reliability.

TVA highlighted blackouts in Texas and parts of Louisiana in 2021 as one of the risks for Memphis if it left TVA.

On Friday, its own reliability is being called into question.

In 2021 Lyash said the federal agency’s nonprofit model — TVA is owned by the federal government — is a differentiator and is why TVA would be more reliable in the face of extreme events than other privately owned for-profit entities.

"We maintain a very high reserve margin.... We see the frequency of these extreme events increasing,” Lyash told The Commercial Appeal shortly after the 2021 power supply crises. "You can see it in how these other systems are performing compared to TVA's now. We are here to serve 10 million people, not operate a market."

The announcement and subsequent recension of rolling blackouts came just weeks after the MLGW Board of Commissioners voted against signing a 20-year deal with TVA that would have locked Memphis into buying its power from TVA for generations.

The commissioners cited the lack of flexibility and the changing power landscape as reasons why they did not want to sign the long-term contract.

MLGW is staying on its current, five-year rolling agreement which requires five years’ notice if Memphis were to leave TVA. If rolling blackouts ultimately occur, the practice could trigger further discussion as to whether it makes sense for Memphis to leave the power supplier.

Asked Friday about the implications of rolling blackouts on the Memphis power supplier's relationship with TVA, McGowen redirected to the need for reliable power in the short-term.

"We're gonna focus on today's issue today. That's a much longer term question..." McGowen said Friday. "We're gonna work with our partners who provide our power today to do what we can to make sure it's reliably there for you."

Lucas Finton is a news reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.

Samuel Hardiman covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by email at samuel.hardiman@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter at @samhardiman.

Laura Testino covers education and children's issues for the Commercial Appeal. Reach her at laura.testino@commercialappeal.com or 901-512-3763. Find her on Twitter: @LDTestino

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Rolling blackouts for Memphis, region, 'could return,' paused for now