Welcome to Grid Brief! Today is our weekly look at power generation in America’s monopoly utility areas.

Monopoly Area Monday

Here’s a look at national generation to start with:

Natural gas maintained its lead, nuclear (a couple peaks of coal aside) maintained second, and wind and coal swapped third place several times.

And here’s a map to orient you as we move through the traditional utility areas:

Carolinas

Nuclear stayed the top dog in the Carolinas this week. Solar had a brief moment in second place before ceding to natural gas. Coal and solar traded places for third throughout the week.

South Carolina is currently preparing for winter. The Elliott blackouts last Christmas spooked the state, which has seen a population influx put greater demand on its power system. The state needs more generation according to reporting from WLTX 19.

Tennessee Valley Authority

America’s largest public utility relied heavily on nuclear to keep the region humming. Natural gas came in second, and coal in third, save for a few peaks from hydro.

The TVA’s Ocoee Dam No.2 celebrated its 110th birthday this month.

Southeast

Gas, nuclear, and coal kept the lights on in the Southeast.

Florida

Florida saw a giant drop in generation, likely due to a decrease in power demand. Natural gas remained the the main power source throughout.

Northwest

The Northwest had a typical week. Coal, gas, hydro, and wind all took their time at the top. But when wind plummeted on the 25th, hydro stepped up to maintain reliability.

Southwest

Natural gas and nuclear provided most of the Southwest’s power this week. Coal, wind, and solar duked it out for third place.

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Conversation Starters

• India demands coal imports for utilities. “India has asked utilities to import 6% of their coal requirement until March, due to rising power demand and inadequate supply of domestic coal, the power ministry said,” reports Reuters. “Worries have mounted over shrinking coal stocks at power plants, where inventories fell the fastest in two years during the first half of October.”

• EU convenes meeting on diesel shock. “The European Union held an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the potential for diesel supply shocks stemming from the conflict between Israel and Hamas,” reports Oilprice.com. “The EU Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson called an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the potential issues should there be a diesel supply outage, like strikes and long truck queues waiting for diesel.”

• Southern California Edison cut power to customers. “Southern California Edison cut power to about 3,300 homes and business on Sunday and warned it could shut off an additional 171,000 customers due to dangerous fire weather conditions buffeting the Los Angeles region,” reports Bloomberg. “The utility said on Friday that it may need to preemptively cut power this weekend because of a forecast of dry Santa Ana winds, which can knock down trees and power lines and cause any fires that spark to spread quickly. The National Weather Service issued a red flag fire warning for Los Angeles and Ventura counties through Monday evening with widespread wind gusts of 40 to 60 miles per hour (64 to 97 kilometers per hour) through mountain valleys.”

Crom’s Blessing

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