Midwestern Power Grid Bracing For Temps Week of 7/22-28

The Midwest power grid operator on Friday issued a hot weather alert for Monday, telling the region's generators and transmission owners to prepare plants and power lines for another heat wave next week.

The alert also tells transmission owners not to conduct any unnecessary maintenance on their equipment during the heat wave, the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO) said in a release.

High temperatures in Chicago, the biggest metropolitan area in the Midwest were expected to reach 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34 Celsius) on Sunday and Monday, and 90 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, before falling to near normal levels in the 80s on Friday, according to weather forecaster AccuWeather.com.

EDIT

The Southwest Power Pool (SPP), which oversees the grid in all or parts of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, said peak demand on Thursday was the highest so far this summer.

EDIT

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/20/us-utilities-midwest-heatwave-idUSBRE86J13720120720?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29