Power grids in the Western United States are struggling. As temperatures increase and populations grow, so does the stress on systems that keep our electricity running.

For the West, electricity is most important in the hot summer months. It keeps our cool air-conditioners pumping.

Going without air conditioning for too long can be not only an annoyance, but also a major health risk, especially in states like Arizona with over 100-degree averages each summer.

A 2023 study by the Environmental Science and Technology journal showed that about half of Valley residents would need emergency medical care if a blackout occurred in the middle of the day.

Arizona has fewer outages than national average

But across the nation, blackouts are on the rise. The study also found that between 2016 and 2021, there was a 150% increase in power grid outages across the United States.

Despite this, Arizona is drastically below the national average when it comes to grid failures. In the last 24 years, the state has only had six outages due to extreme weather, according to Climate Central data.

Typically, a monsoon storm will cause power outages, according to Ashley Kelly, director of transmission operations and maintenance for APS.

APS services the majority of Arizona in energy distribution.

“Maintaining balance between how much you’re generating and how much your customers are using your energy is something that we do on a minute-by-minute basis. And so if there are disruptions, it’s normally because there’s an imbalance to that or a piece of equipment has gotten damaged,” she said.

Planning for the future

Overplanning is a way to stay ahead of any possible issues that could arise due to extreme heat, Tayla Beckham told Valley 101. She is the manager of real-time operations at APS.

This week on Valley 101, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, we’ll look into what makes Arizona’s power grid efficient and if it is prepared to withstand rising temperatures in the future.

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