The Midcontinent ISO on May 25 issued a load shed request (temporary power outages) of approximately 600 MW in Louisiana to investor-owned utilities Entergy and Cleco Power to maintain the reliability of the bulk electric system.
“High temperatures in Louisiana led to higher-than-expected demand, and with planned and unplanned transmission and generation outages, MISO needed to take this action as a very last resort,” it said in a post on X.
“MISO is coordinating closely with Entergy and Cleco to restore power as quickly as possible,” it said.
"While conditions are currently stable, Cleco continues to monitor the power grid to avoid future power interruptions," Cleco said on May 26.
“If the power supply cannot meet the demand, periodic power outages could be needed to protect the stability of the power grid and prevent widespread lengthy outages,” said Jennifer Cahill, director of corporate communications. “This was the case yesterday when we took the unprecedented step, as directed by MISO, to force outages to some customers in St. Tammany Parish.”
MISO, Cleco’s reliability coordinator, issued a directive at 5 p.m. CT on Sunday, May 25, for controlled power outages in order to prevent a more extensive, prolonged power outage that could have impacted the reliability of the power grid. It is Cleco’s obligation to take action for the directive given, the utility said.
“Controlled outages are a last resort when all other options have been exhausted, and every attempt is made to notify customers before an outage occurs,” said Cahill. “However, due to the many variables that affect the overall electric power grid, these events can occur quickly and without advance notice.”
At the height of the May 25 event, roughly 25,000 Cleco customers in the Covington, Mandeville, Madisonville, Lacombe and Franklinton areas were without power for under two hours.
Cleco said it will continue to coordinate with MISO to monitor the system. "And Cleco and MISO are working together to investigate the cause of the outage and prevent similar incidents in the future."
