Blackouts

World leaders are once again preparing to meet next month to discuss how they’ll address climate change. Known as COP27, the two-week conference in Egypt will gather governments, large corporations, and nonprofit groups, representing billions of people and billions of dollars, all aiming to hash out how best to keep the planet from warming up too much. For a massive global problem like climate change, it makes sense to tackle it at such a large scale. But that doesn’t mean that you as an individual are insignificant…

New England power producers are preparing for potential strain on the grid this winter as a surge in natural-gas demand abroad threatens to reduce supplies they need to generate electricity.New England, which relies on natural-gas imports to bridge winter supply gaps, is now competing with European countries for shipments of liquefied natural gas, following Russia’s halt of most pipeline gas to the continent. Severe cold spells in the Northeast could reduce the amount of gas available to generate electricity as more of it…

Europe is as ready as it can be for a winter without Russian natural gas, but there is no margin for error. Storage facilities of gas for heating and power generation are almost full, consumption is down and liquefied natural gas tankers are steaming in. Europe is in a stronger position than feared in recent months, after Moscow slashed gas deliveries in retaliation for Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine. However, much could go wrong. One long cold spell or a busted pipeline could upset the region’s…

General Motors Co. GM -3.96% is starting an energy business to sell power-storage units and services to homeowners and commercial clients, an offshoot of the auto maker’s battery-development work for electric vehicles. GM said the new division, called GM Energy, will help customers transfer electricity from an EV or battery-storage box to a home or building, as a way to protect against power outages and transfer electricity to the grid…

California aims to add millions of new electric vehicles in the coming years. Charging them without impairing an aging grid will require more power generation and help from EV drivers. This summer, the state faced the threat of rolling blackouts during an extended heat wave and asked people to avoid charging and using major appliances during critical hours, raising questions of whether its electrical grid can handle the added demand from charging EVs. The state’s success depends on a range of factors, which…

PARIS— EDF SA, EDF -0.38% France’s state-controlled power company, said a rash of outages in its fleet of nuclear reactors is expected to wipe about $29 billion off its pretax earnings this year, a sign of the turmoil at one of Europe’s most important electricity producers as the continent confronts a cutoff of Russian natural-gas supplies. EDF has shut down 12 of its 56 nuclear reactors because of corrosion discovered on pipes that cool the reactor cores. The company,…

California’s weeks-long heat wave finally broke over the weekend. But the state is still battling the Mosquito Fire in the foothills east of Sacramento. Investigators have not determined the exact cause of the fire, though it started near a power line operated by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), one of the largest utilities in the country. These events echo some of what happened in the summer of 2018. California was facing its hottest summer then on record when PG&E power lines sparked the Camp Fire. The…

A temperature sign at an El Dorado Savings Bank during a heatwave in Sacramento, California, on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022.David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesCalifornia has avoided ordering rolling blackouts after electricity demand reached a record-high Tuesday night from excessive heat across the state. The California Independent System Operator, which oversees the state's electrical grid, imposed its highest level energy emergency on Tuesday, a step that comes before ordering rolling blackouts and allows the state…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Electric vehicles consume a large amount of energy. As more people get electric cars and charge them at home, it puts a strain on our current electricity distribution, but researchers from the CSIRO says it doesn't have to be that way. They devised a computer module…

Tesla Inc. TSLA -3.10% has asked Shanghai’s government to help ensure its suppliers in China’s Sichuan province would have sufficient electricity supply amid a power crunch, a government letter and people familiar with the matter said.Tesla’s request came as it ramps up production at its Shanghai factory following a bumpy few months. It shut down its plant in Shanghai for weeks around May during the city’s two-month long Covid-19 lockdown. Tesla is concerned that should…