Triple Digit Temperatures are Coming, and Public Power is Ready
Summer is here, which means our nation’s ongoing electricity load growth challenges must accommodate an additional variable: extreme heat. According to NERC’s 2025 Summer Reliability Assessment, aggregated peak demand is forecast to increase across all 23 assessment areas by 10 GW—more than double the increase from 2023 to 2024. Data centers, electrification, and industrial activity have been driving load growth at unprecedented rates, and now anticipated heat waves across the country could further strain the grid. Fortunately, LPPC members are ready.
Just two years ago in 2023, Phoenix experienced its hottest summer ever, with temperatures reaching 110°F on 54 days, breaking the previous record of 53 days set in 2020. The city also had 113 consecutive days with temperatures of 100°F or higher, breaking the previous record of 76 days set in 1993. LPPC member Salt River Project (SRP) kept its community cool by deploying a strategic mix of energy sources and activating new turbines to accommodate the load.
SRP knows that in hot cities like Phoenix, air conditioning can be a matter of life or death, which is why the utility underwent a comprehensive facility maintenance and inspection program this spring. These actions should greatly decrease the chance of outages as temperatures soar.
In Texas, LPPC member CPS Energy reports that years-long planning has enabled the company to add gas generation and wind-generated capacity, which will help keep San Antonio cool this summer. The city-owned utility will have roughly 9,500 megawatts of generation capacity this summer. CPS has also increased energy storage by engaging in agreements with partners in Seoul, South Korea.
CPS Energy President and CEO Rudy Garza has stated that CPS could also provide electricity to the statewide power grid operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas should they get in an energy bind due to high demand.
Summers are getting hotter, longer, and more deadly, but LPPC member communities are working on solutions to mitigate and adapt to extreme weather events. To learn more about what SRP is doing to keep Phoenix cool, click here. To hear more about CPS Energy’s plans, click here.
