Searing Heat From Texas to California Strains Power Grids
- Texans asked to conserve power because plants are offline
- California’s Central Valley could hit 113 degrees this week
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Heat waves in Texas and California are threatening to push electrical grids to the brink, prompting the specter of blackouts yet again in the two most populous U.S. states.
Texas officials are asking customers to conserve power as generating plants with a combined capacity of 12.2 gigawatts -- or enough to run about 2.4 million homes -- are down for repairs amid the heat. California’s grid, meanwhile, is being swamped with demand as temperatures are forecast to exceed 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 Celsius) in the coming days.