power grid

In front of those screens at Buckeye Power, the system operations team watches it all unfold, for the most part just as had been predicted the night before, then gets to work on the all-important forecast for the next day. The basic question team members must answer is both simple and complicated: How much electricity will our members need? 

In an increasingly digital world, cybersecurity has become second nature to most of us. We lock our phones, use strong passwords, and enable two-factor authentication to protect our personal data. We’re alert for phishing attempts and digital scams that seek to exploit our trust or steal sensitive information. They’re practices that reflect a broader principle: securing what matters. 

Summer in Ohio brings hot weather — along with longer days that give us more time to enjoy it. But as we take in the season, it’s worth reflecting for a moment about something we rarely think about yet couldn’t live without: our electric power grid.

January is always a good time to take stock of things — to prepare for what’s ahead in the coming year — and often, your electric cooperative finds a long list of upcoming events and things to consider as we try to make sure we’re ready for whatever comes our way. Our list seems to be a little shorter this year, but that doesn’t mean we have less to do or less to worry about. We have some important long-term goals that we need to make progress on to ensure that we can continue to provide the reliable and affordable electric service that you’ve come to expect.

That emergency balancing act is known by many names, including “intermittent outage” or “forced outage,” but is most commonly called a “rolling blackout.” It can happen when a peak in electricity use — usually during extremely hot or extremely cold weather — coincides with significant gaps in the generation or transmission of electricity, says Ben Wilson, director of power delivery engineering for Buckeye Power, which supplies electricity to Ohio’s electric cooperatives.