BALTIMORE (WBFF) — Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) asked all customers to conserve electricity following an unexpected disruption at a power plant that serves its electric system, according to officials.
The unplanned disconnection occurred Monday morning at the Brandon Shores Power Plant near Glen Burnie.
While BGE worked to address the incident, “electricity demand briefly exceeded the current capacity of the local transmission system,” according to a spokesperson with PJM.
Around 3:52 p.m., PJM asked BGE to implement a load-reduction plan to prevent outages across a broad area, which they did. Roughly 30 minutes later though, BGE reported that the transmission system parts that had been inoperable throughout the day were now working again. As such, the load-reduction plan was canceled at that time.
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A BGE spokesperson released a statement in the evening regarding the day’s events:
This morning, a power plant that serves BGE customers experienced an unplanned disconnection from the BGE electric system. This was due to a transmission equipment issue impacting the BGE electric system. BGE continues to coordinate with the plant’s owner to make repairs as quickly and safely as possible. We are still investigating and have not identified the exact cause.
BGE is also coordinating with PJM. This event was not a resource adequacy issue. It was a transmission constraint issue.
This event had the potential to cause a temporary, widespread power outage this afternoon to protect the grid. BGE and PJM took measures to mitigate the potential for outages. BGE issued a call for conservation to customers. BGE also initiated emergency PeakRewards and ConnectedRewards cycling events. These efforts helped lower load and relieve strain on the grid, and have been lifted. PJM issued a voltage reduction action, which helped lower load and relieve strain on the grid. This action has since been lifted.
Ultimately, PJM directed BGE to interrupt service for roughly 4,000 customers for 30 minutes around 4 p.m. to prevent longer and more substantial impacts to the system. We recognize this outage—any outage—is disruptive to customers, and we appreciate customers’ patience, especially in the heat, during this temporary disruption. The outage impacted customers in Howard County. The directive has since been lifted.
At this time we do not anticipate additional outages related to this event to occur today/through this evening. If an outage must occur, we will make every effort to alert customers in advance.
We will share pertinent new information with you when it becomes available.
The Maryland Freedom Caucus released a statement on BGE’s initial alert warning, saying that the crisis is the direct result of radical, extremist energy policies from Maryland Democrats and Gov. Wes Moore.
