Dive Brief:
- Residents of Escanaba, Mich., have power again after a a substation explosion early on Feb. 2 left many in the dark and forced the city to conduct rolling blackouts.
- The city said it experienced "a major malfunction at the substation at the power plant" but has put in place a temporary fix.
- Officials have asked residents to conserve power until the system is permanently repaired, the Grand Rapids Press reported.
Dive Insight:
A substation explosion forced residents of Escanaba to deal with rolling blackouts for a day, but the Grand Rapids Press reports the city has put a temporary fix in place. Residents are still being asked to conserve power while a permanent fix is found.
The story is another highlighting the region's well-documented electricity grid struggles. We Energies recently agreed to a series of measures aimed at solving the region's generation crisis — along with facilitating its merger with Integrys Energy Group. The arrangement calls for We Energies to sell its Presque Isle Power Plant to Upper Peninsula Power Co., which will step into the existing rates.
That deal would protect U.P. ratepayers from years of costly system support resource payments for the Presque Isle facility, and would provide replacement electric generation to avoid reliance on out of state coal plants.
