New Orleans is no stranger to power outages, some caused by mylar balloons, rodents, or a load shed event — which is a controlled power outage to avoid larger blackouts. Over Memorial Day weekend 100,000 people in the Greater New Orleans area lost power because our Grid operator, MISO, directed a load shed event.
Before the May load shed event the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), the grid operator for the majority of Louisiana and 14 other states, was not in the media or public discourse, but the recent outages pushed the importance of grid operations into the spotlight.
The load shed event was caused by many factors, including planned and unplanned transmission & generation outages, hotter-than-expected temperatures, and a lack of regional transmission planning over the last twenty years. One of the major pain points during the load shed event was a lack of communication between MISO and the local utilities that needed to cut power: Entergy, and CLECO. MISO has assured the New Orleans City Council and the Louisiana Public Service Commission that communications will improve, and more robust protocols will be established.
Smartphone users now have access to real-time data and can opt-in to instant notifications about what’s happening as electricity moves across the MISO footprint. This week, MISO issued several real-time emergency operations notifications for Louisiana and the entire MISO South region, including transmission advisories, max gen alerts, and severe weather alerts. Stay tuned for a breakdown of what MISO emergency operations mean in non-technical terms.
Being armed with information won’t solve all of our problems, but it can allow communities to be informed about how the grid is performing. These types of alerts are becoming all too frequent this summer and while an alert does not necessarily mean the power will go out, it does signal that we need to get serious about transmission planning, and understand why generation is unexpectedly going offline.
The app has a calendar function where you can view the MISO Stakeholder Engagement Calendar, which includes transmission planning workshops and Board of Directors meetings. If you’ve ever wanted to get involved, join a MISO Board of Directors meeting via your phone or desktop — all you need to do is make a MISO login (free) and register for the meeting. This means you can make a public comment from your phone or desktop, no need to attend in-person meetings.
The load shed event in New Orleans was another unfortunate reminder that our grid is vulnerable. If we want our grid to be more reliable we need to resolve load pockets so that power can get to people where and when it’s needed. In order to do that, residents need to push their regulators to direct utilities to swiftly begin expert, regional, long-term transmission planning.
If you have questions about navigating the app or the importance of transmission planning in Louisiana, please reach out to us at info@all4energy.org. As always, The Alliance will continue to push for more opportunities for meaningful public engagement and continue to advocate for Louisiana ratepayers in transmission planning forums.
