Wanna Bet How Well-Prepared FEMA Is To Handle The Coming Blackouts? Me, Either. Two Words: Black Start

From today's EEI newsletter:

Week Sees All Seven U.S. RTOs, ISOs Meet Record Demand Levels
The ISO-RTO Council announced that all seven U.S. ISOs and RTOs already have seen record demand levels this week and maintained adequate reserve margins to secure against blackouts.

Aggregate demand for the RTOs and ISOs peaked at 483,233 MW with individual grid operators seeing demand up 0.9 percent to 4.5 percent over 2005 demand peaks. Among the peaks was the Southwest Power Pool's successive demand levels of 41,324 MW on Monday, 41,874 MW on Tuesday, and 42,227 MW on Wednesday, all three of which surpassed the previous 40,081 MW record.

The Council noted that because the Eastern grid is interconnected and ISOs covering that grid share operating data with each other on a daily basis, the ISOs easily can shift power across regional grids as demand levels fluctuate. The Council observed that the ISOs and RTOs "said their experiences so far this summer in successfully meeting high demand for power should prove valuable throughout the remainder of the season as well as in preparations to meet future demands on their respective systems."
ISO-RTO Council news release , July 20.