It’s the Dog Days of Summer and Cushing, Oklahoma – the pipeline capital of the world – is experiencing strains on its power grid due to the excessive heat. City officials are urging residents to conserve power in order to cool down substations until there is relief from the hot weather. The combination of heat and humidity this year seems worse than in previous years.
Cushing City Manager Terry Brannon explained that the city has five small substations to serve residents and one of them overheated on Wednesday. The issue was caused by the oil in the substation getting too hot. The fire department spent hours spraying the equipment with water to cool it down. On Thursday, two sprinklers were used to keep the substations cool.
Brannon posted on the city’s Facebook page, encouraging residents to conserve power by avoiding the use of electric stoves until later in the day and recommended use of outdoor grills instead. He also suggested delaying laundry to reduce the load on the grid.
Local businesses also took action by turning off unnecessary lights and raising the thermostat to reduce energy consumption.
In response to the strain on the power grid, Cushing is building a $10 million substation on the east side of town. The new substation is expected to be completed in April 2024. The city has ordered power poles which have a 52-week waiting period. The power poles are expected to arrive sometime in February.
Despite the challenges, the residents of Cushing are willing to help each other and conserve power to alleviate the strain on the power grid caused by the extreme heat.