Midwest power grid will have plenty of power this summer for cooling Wisconsin

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No matter how hot it gets this summer, Wisconsinites will have enough power to keep their air conditioners humming.

The operators of the Midwest power grid said today that Wisconsin and 11 other states in its territory will have 114,000 megawatts of electricity to handle spikes in the demand. And the regular demand is expected to be only about 90,000 megawatts, as high usage industries continue to recover from the Great Recession.

The Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator is required to have a reserve of just under 17% to provide juice during heat waves. But the actual reserve is much bigger than that, at around 27%.

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