The Midwest endured a tremendous heat wave last week, with temperatures in the St. Louis area rising into the 100s toward the end of the week, the coolest temperatures sticking firmly in the 80s and exceptional humidity and other poor conditions making things feel much hotter.

Extreme summer temperatures inevitably put some degree of strain on electrical grids, with energy consumption going up as homes and businesses turn up their air conditioning to try and keep cool.

Monroe County fortunately didn’t encounter any power outages as a result of the heat wave, though Monroe County Electric Cooperative President and CEO Alan Wattles said there were concerns.

As he explained, MCEC gets its electricity from Midcontinent Independent System Operator, an organization which manages electricity distribution among 15 states from Louisiana up through the Midwest and into the Canadian province of Manitoba.

Given that essentially all of MISO’s coverage area was impacted by the heat wave, Wattles said MCEC was expecting to hear requests for energy conservation.

“When we came into last week, we figured there were going to be some notifications sent out, it just was going to be how quickly the system load built across the days,” Wattles said. “Each proceeding heat day was going to stress the air conditioning, trying to keep places cool. It was just going to continue to build.”

MCEC asked its members to conserve electric usage through Saturday based on MISO declaring a maximum generation capacity alert for this area. 

Wattles said the big problem for the organization was largely the lack of wind which severely impacted turbines in the coverage area.

“The big concern was there just wasn’t any wind at all to be able to generate any wind power from the turbines there,” Wattles said.

Fortunately, as Wattles described, MISO was able to open up transmissions and bring in power from elsewhere, leading to minimal problems.

He further explained that Southern Illinois’ power grid is a bit more robust given the multiple plants in the area.

On a related note, Waterloo Director of Public Works Tim Birk said the city didn’t experience any issues as a result of last week’s heat wave.

“We didn’t have any problem with Waterloo utilities,” Birk said. “Everything seemed to run pretty good.”

It’s worth noting a Monday morning power outage in Waterloo was due to a squirrel causing damage to one of the city’s main breakers rather than any impact of the heat.

Another brief outage – lasting just a few minutes – was an aftereffect of the previous outage, city officials said.

Similarly, further south, Red Bud experienced an outage Friday evening which, according to a press release from Red Bud City Superintendent Joshua Eckart, was caused by a broken transmission pole during a pop-up thunderstorm.

Staci Wilson of Illinois Municipal Electric Agency, the organization from which Waterloo utilities gets its power, spoke similarly, saying the organization was prepared in case power concerns escalated, though it didn’t encounter any major issues.

Wilson also noted that, in extreme conditions comparable to what the area experienced last week, it is not uncommon for the organization to call for power conservation.

“We also encourage folks, of course, during really hot days to try and conserve energy the best they can, but there was no need to do that last week,” Wilson said.

There are a variety of ways individuals can help keep their individual power consumption low, as outlined in an infographic shared by MCEC on Facebook last week.

These can range from using ceiling fans rather than relying solely on air conditioning, using outdoor barbecue grills rather than ovens and washing clothes in cold water.

One of the more impactful ways to conserve is by turning up home AC units by a few degrees.

“Let’s say you’re going from 72 degrees in your house to 78,” Wattles said. “That’s a substantial impact as far as savings.”

Another key factor in conserving energy, as Wattles described, is timing. 

Late afternoon and evening tend to be peak power consumption times as individuals return home, so waiting to take a shower until after 7 p.m. or running the dishwasher just before bedtime can help reduce the strain on the grid.

Of course, many might doubt the impact their personal energy consumption can have, but Wattles pointed out that many individuals making small changes can really add up.

“When you’re talking about percentages, it’s anywhere between 3-5 percent for a person’s house if they can do some of those things, and when you start adding that across homes, that gets to be a pretty big percentage,” Wattles said.

Heat waves like last week, Wattles said, aren’t necessarily uncommon. He pointed to a similar period of heat just a few weeks ago as well as a few energy consumption warnings which came up last year.

Wattles said a problem power grids can have is with their base load power plants like coal generators, which are able to produce a reliable, constant amount of energy.

While he noted that renewables have their place, it’s difficult to have them serve as base load plants without a substantial amount of battery storage.

He said it’s important generators and groups like MISO maintain a sufficiently wide portfolio of energy sources – though requests to conserve energy might become more common during the continued transition toward renewable energy.

“I just think you’re going to see more and more of it,” Wattles said.

While daytime temperatures dipped into the 80s Sunday into this week, the forecasted highs are expected to be in the upper 90s again next week.