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Map Shows States Under Emergency Order to Stop Blackouts
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. The Department of Energy has issued an emergency order allowing the Southwest Power Pool to call on additional power resources across a 17-state region as extreme heat raises electricity demand and strains the grid.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued the order on July 26, directing Southwest Power Pool, Inc., or SPP, to dispatch specified generation units and order them to operate "as needed to maintain reliability." The order also allows SPP to direct backup power resources to run as a last resort before declaring an Energy Emergency Alert Level 3, or during such an alert, DOE said. The order was issued at SPP’s request and is set to expire at 11:59 p.m. CDT on Monday, August 3.
Wright also criticized the "previous administration's energy subtraction policies," referring to the Biden administration's energy agenda, which emphasized accelerating renewable energy deployment, tightening emissions standards, and retiring some fossil fuel generation.
Supporters argue those policies improve long-term grid resilience and reduce emissions, while critics contend they can contribute to reliability challenges if dispatchable generation is retired before replacement resources and transmission are in place. Grid analysts generally say reliability depends on multiple factors—including extreme weather, transmission constraints, generator outages, fuel availability, and the pace of new resource additions—rather than any single policy.
Newsweek contacted the DOE and SPP for comment via email on Tuesday, outside of standard working hours, and is awaiting a reply.
SPP is a regional transmission organization that manages the flow of electricity and provides grid services across a large central U.S. footprint. The organization says it serves members in all or part of 17 states, covering about 732,086 square miles, with more than 85,000 miles of transmission.
The emergency order applies to all or parts of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona, Minnesota and Utah, according to the Department of Energy.
DOE said the action was intended to keep power flowing during hot weather conditions and mitigate the possibility of blackouts. The department also said more than 35 gigawatts of unused backup generation remain available nationwide.
"The Trump Administration is tapping into an abundant supply of unused backup generation to maintain affordable, reliable, and secure power for hardworking American families and businesses," said Wright.
The order followed a period of tight grid conditions in SPP’s Western region, with Reuters and EnergyNow reporting that SPP had warned emergency conditions could persist during peak-demand periods, citing risks from power plant outages, lower wind generation and curtailed electricity imports from neighboring grids also facing heat-driven demand. SPP avoided outages after appealing for voluntary conservation, according to the report.
The heat threat is expected to continue across much of the region. A National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center forecast issued Monday said dangerous and extreme heat would remain across parts of the Central U.S. this week, lasting longest across the Mid-to-Lower Mississippi Valley, Gulf Coast, Southern Plains and portions of Texas.
The forecast called for highs in the mid-to-upper 90s, with parts of Texas and Oklahoma reaching the low 100s and maximum heat indexes of 105 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
A separate Weather Prediction Center outlook for the Southwest said heat would intensify late this week and peak over the weekend, expanding into the Intermountain West and northern High Plains. Highs of 115 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit were forecast for the Southwest, while the Intermountain West and northern High Plains could see temperatures in the 90s to low 100s. The outlook said widespread major to extreme HeatRisk— signaling serious health risks —was expected, with heat potentially persisting into late next week.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: John Fitzpatrick and James Debens
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