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Business Times
20-06-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Intense heat to push biggest US grid's power use to 12-year high
[NEW YORK] Electricity use on the biggest US grid, which serves nearly a fifth of Americans from Washington DC to Illinois, is expected to climb to a 12-year high as intense heat spurs air conditioning needs. A heat wave will start baking the mid-Atlantic on Saturday (Jun 21) with temperatures climbing to 38 deg C in Washington on Monday, 13 degrees above average, according to Households and businesses relying on the grid managed by PJM Interconnection may use as much as 158.5 gigawatts at about 5.00 pm ET, according to the system operator. That would make it the highest hourly peak demand since July 2013 and is above this summer's anticipated high, PJM data show. The all-time high for electricity demand was set in 2006, at nearly 165.6 gigawatts. PJM's demand growth is rebounding after languishing for the better part of a decade, as new data centres cropped up in Northern Virginia and spread across the grid. More efficient appliances and light bulbs had halted growth for years. Consumer costs are starting to climb as well, especially after an auction last year to procure supplies rose to a record high for a 12-month period that started Jun 1. Power prices for Monday soared to an average at US$200 a megawatt-hour in exchange-traded contracts, a roughly five-fold increase from Friday's day-ahead price, said Gary Cunningham, director of market research at Tradition Energy. 'The swath of heat stretching from the central plains to the big apple will bring near-record heat to many metropolitan areas, but is happening early enough in the year that power demands should fall shy of records in most areas,' he said. The East Coast areas relying on PJM will endure much higher and more volatile prices than parts of the Midwest, he said. BLOOMBERG
Los Angeles Times
20-06-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Intense heat to push biggest U.S. grid's power use to 12-year high
Electricity use on the biggest US grid, which serves nearly a fifth of Americans from Washington DC to Illinois, is expected to climb to a 12-year high as intense heat spurs air conditioning needs. A heat wave will start baking the mid-Atlantic on Saturday with temperatures climbing to 100 F (38 C) in Washington on Monday, 13 degrees above average, according to Households and businesses relying on the grid managed by PJM Interconnection LLC may use as much as 158.5 gigawatts at about 5 p.m. ET, according to the system operator. That would make it the highest hourly peak demand since July 2013 and is above this summer's anticipated high, PJM data show. The all-time high for electricity demand was set in 2006, at nearly 165.6 gigawatts. PJM's demand growth is rebounding after languishing for the better part of a decade, as new data centers cropped up in Northern Virginia and spread across the grid. More efficient appliances and light bulbs had halted growth for years. Consumer costs are starting to climb as well, especially after an auction last year to procure supplies rose to a record high for a 12-month period that started June 1. Power prices for Monday soared to average at $200 a megawatt-hour in exchange-traded contracts, a roughly five-fold increase from Friday's day—ahead price, said Gary Cunningham, director of market research at Tradition Energy. 'The swath of heat stretching from the central plains to the big apple will bring near record heat to many metropolitan areas, but is happening early enough in the year that power demands should fall shy of records in most areas,' he said. The East Coast areas relying on PJM will endure much higher and more volatile prices than parts of the Midwest, he said. Malik writes for Bloomberg.
Mint
20-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Intense Heat to Push Biggest US Grid's Power Use to 12-Year High
Electricity use on the biggest US grid, which serves nearly a fifth of Americans from Washington DC to Illinois, is expected to climb to a 12-year high as intense heat spurs air conditioning needs. A heat wave will start baking the mid-Atlantic on Saturday with temperatures climbing to 100 F in Washington on Monday, 13 degrees above average, according to Households and businesses relying on the grid managed by PJM Interconnection LLC may use as much as 158.5 gigawatts at about 5 p.m. ET, according to the system operator. That would make it the highest hourly peak demand since July 2013 and is above this summer's anticipated high, PJM data show. The all-time high for electricity demand was set in 2006, at nearly 165.6 gigawatts. PJM's demand growth is rebounding after languishing for the better part of a decade, as new data centers cropped up in Northern Virginia and spread across the grid. More efficient appliances and light bulbs had halted growth for years. Consumer costs are starting to climb as well, especially after an auction last year to procure supplies rose to a record high for a 12-month period that started June 1. Power prices for Monday soared to average at $200 a megawatt-hour in exchange-traded contracts, a roughly five-fold increase from Friday's day—ahead price, said Gary Cunningham, director of market research at Tradition Energy. 'The swath of heat stretching from the central plains to the big apple will bring near record heat to many metropolitan areas, but is happening early enough in the year that power demands should fall shy of records in most areas,' he said. The East Coast areas relying on PJM will endure much higher and more volatile prices than parts of the Midwest, he said. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Massive Saharan dust cloud moving toward US. Will it have any impact on WA?
A large plume of dust from the Saharan Desert is expected to drift across a good chunk of parts of the southeastern U.S. by the end of the week, forecasters say. According to AccuWeather, the Saharan dust will continue to move across the Atlantic and cross the Caribbean and into the U.S. on Thursday, starting with parts of Florida and South Carolina. It will continue to drift across the southeast region of the country on Friday. The plume is about 2,000 miles wide from east to west and 750 miles long from north to south, AccuWeather states. The plume — the apparently largest to reach the U.S. so far this year — is expected to continue on over the Gulf Coast in the following days. But will the dust cloud reach Washington state, or impact the air quality in the Pacific Northwest region? Most of the dust will likely remain thousands of feet high in the atmosphere, meaning it should have minimal impact on air quality at the ground level, even in states it's expected to cross over. That means that Washington state and the Pacific Northwest region shouldn't experience any impact from the storm. Still, if you're in the southeastern region of the U.S., AccuWeather warns that, 'People who are sensitive to dust or vulnerable to the effects of poor air quality should monitor air quality conditions and forecasts.' Air quality forecasts can be found at the National Weather Service website or at Other impacts from the dust cloud could include hazy conditions in some parts of the country, more colorful sunrises and sunsets and a slight cooling effect in some areas. While the current Saharan plume is unusually large, dust from the Sahara Desert blows out toward the U.S. often. According to NASA, winds pick up an estimated 100 million tons of dust from the Sahara Desert every year — a sizable amount blows out over the North Atlantic Ocean. Dust plays a major role in Earth's climate and biological systems. The airborne particles absorb and reflect sunlight, which impacts the amount of solar energy that reaches the surface. The particles also can promote or reduce cloud and storm formation. The dust, which is rich in iron and other minerals, can act as a natural fertilizer for ocean ecosystems and lands downwind. The Sahara Desert is Earth's largest source of airborne dust. In winter and spring storms, Saharan dust often fertilizes the soils of the Amazon rainforest.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Canadian wildfire smoke covers Eastern US, causing red sunsets
Smoke from wildfires in Canada covered most of the eastern and central United States on Monday morning and will linger through Tuesday, AccuWeather meteorologists say. Fortunately for people worried about the air quality impacting their health, most of the smoke has remained high in the atmosphere over the United States and only caused red sunrises and sunsets over the weekend. However, for areas closer to the fires in northern Minnesota and eastern North Dakota, air quality remains poor to unhealthy on Monday morning. "Shower and thunderstorms in the Upper Midwest this afternoon and evening will help cleanse the air and help improve air quality," AccuWeather Meteorologist Alexander Duffus said. Rainfall can bring the smell of wildfire smoke down to the ground, so people who are outside during the showers and storms could catch a whiff of smoke. Residents concerned about the smoke's health effects can check their local air quality on The largest wildfire burning in Canada is the Shoe Fire in central Saskatchewan, which remains out of control and one of the many sources of smoke over the lower 48 states, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson. As of Monday morning, the Shoe Fire has burned 1490 square miles, which is equivalent to the size of Rhode Island.
