LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The company that balances a 14-state electricity distribution grid has cut back power off and on to the Moorhead area on Minnesota’s western border. Southwest Power Pool, headquartered in Little Rock, began rolling blackouts Tuesday. The grid’s generating capacity dropped below 42 gigawatts due to extremely low temperatures and inadequate supplies of natural gas, the company said. The systemwide demand was approaching 44.6. The system stretches from North Dakota, including Moorhead across the Red River, all the way south into Texas. Parts of Texas in a neighboring grid have been in a desperate situation without any power whatsoever for four days with subfreezing temperatures.
