The Cook nuclear power plant in Bridgman is holding up well in the high heat this week, but having so many people using their air conditioning at the same time can be a challenge for the electric grid.
Cook Site Vice President Kelly Ferneau tells us when there’s high demand, the plant ceases doing maintenance projects that could reduce its output. How does the system work?
“We put our power out onto the grid, and we do have a grid operator and they do a lot of studies to look at what the demands are going to be and what the resources are available to supply that demand,” Ferneau said. “So, they put out alerts, and right now, we are in a ‘Hot Weather Alert,’ and so there’s certain actions that come from that, and that goes for all the plants that are putting electricity out onto our grid.”
Ferneau says once the weather returns to normal, plant operations can do the same. In the meantime, what can customers do to reduce their consumption?
“Just making sure you don’t crank your air conditioning down to 65 degrees. It’s those little things that can help everyone out and make sure the grid can be stable to support the folks out there.”
Another suggestion is to use high-consumption appliances at night instead of during the day.
You may recall a couple of years ago when Governor Gretchen Whitmer put out an emergency alert to all Michigan residents asking them to reduce their heat during a winter storm to prevent power outages. Ferneau says if the heat dome were to threaten the stability of the system in a similar way, customers could get another such alert. However, it’s unlikely that will happen as she says the grid is holding up in this heat.
