By Carter Woodiel
Feb 16, 2021 8:00 AM
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) About 7,000 Sioux Valley Energy customers, including 5,700 on the east side of Sioux Falls, had their power shut off as part of rolling blackouts brought on by frigid weather.
Sioux Valley energy announced the blackouts at about 7:45 a.m. Tuesday morning. They said advance notice was not possible “because of the conditions of the system.”
Unfortunately, the scenario we had hoped would NOT happen, has. The Southwestern Power Pool, which many electric…
Chris Studer with the East River Electric Cooperative provided this update:
“The Western Area Power Administration which is the Transmission Operator for our region was directed by SPP to take an outage at 7:00 a.m. this morning of about 200 megawatts. They de-energized substations in parts of western Minnesota impacting about 2,000 members of Lyon-Lincoln Electric Cooperative and City of Tyler customers. Around the same time they also de-energize
South Dakota PUC asking residents to conserve power because of record-breaking cold
What to do if your car doesn t start in the cold
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South Dakotans are being asked to conserve power after record-breaking cold from North Dakota to Texas is putting a strain on the electrical grid.
Public Utilities Commission Chairman Chris Nelson tweeted on Monday afternoon that residents should reduce electricity consumption. The extended and deep cold wave blanketing the midsection of the country is stressing the electric grid in historic proportions, Nelson said. This is the type of moment where all South Dakotans need to pitch in to reduce electricity consumption to help keep the grid reliable for all of us.
By next August, Watertown will likely have its first electric vehicle charging station open to the public.
The South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources recently awarded a $58,035 rebate for Watertown Municipal Utilities to install a Level 2 charging station that can charge two electric vehicles simultaneously.
WMUâs share of the funding comes as part of a mitigation trust automaker Volkswagen set up following its diesel emissions scandal last decade.
With Sioux Valley Energy, West River Electric Association, West Central Electric Cooperative, Brookings Municipal Utilities and NorthWestern Energy also receiving rebates, the funds will be used to begin building an electric vehicle charging network using direct current fast charging along Interstate 29 and Interstate 90. The planned charging network will be separate from Teslaâs well established network along I-90.