NFL's Tennessee Titans delay game one hour as state deals with rolling power outages - CNN

CNN  — 

The NFL’s Tennessee Titans delayed its scheduled noon CT crippled by an hr owed to rolling blackouts successful the region, which person since ended, stemming from the wintertime tempest and brutal cold.

“Due to the utmost upwind and powerfulness outages affecting our region, kickoff for today’s crippled has been postponed 1 hr to 1 p.m. CT,” the Titans said successful a statement.

“This determination was made successful concern with the NFL, Office of Emergency Management, Nashville Electric Service and the Mayor’s Office successful an abundance of caution to guarantee that the crippled would not negatively interaction our assemblage successful immoderate way. We are exploring each anticipation to minimize non-essential powerfulness astir the stadium.”

The Titans (7-7), losers of 4 consecutive games, are acceptable to play the Houston Texans (1-12-1) astatine Nissan Stadium successful Nashville.

On Saturday morning, Tennessee Valley Authority directed section powerfulness companies to trim their powerfulness load owed to record-high request and procreation issues from the tempest that has wrecked vacation plans crossed the country.

Specifically, the TVA told section powerfulness companies to interrupt powerfulness successful 15-minute intervals, according to a tweet from CDE Lightband, a section powerfulness institution retired of Clarksville, Tennessee. Similarly, the Nashville Electric Service told customers Saturday greeting to expect “rotating, intermittent powerfulness outages” successful astir 10-minute increments each one-and-a-half to 2 hours.

The TVA, a federally owned electrical inferior company, works with 153 section powerfulness companies crossed 7 states to powerfulness the region. The authorization said it acceptable an all-time December highest powerfulness request connected Friday, and Chief Operating Officer Don Moul said the agency “lost immoderate generation” owed to the utmost acold and precocious winds.

At astir noon Saturday, though, the TVA announced that the request for rolling blackouts had ended.

“We admit that these planned impermanent disruptions are a challenge, but it was needed to support grid stableness for 10 cardinal radical crossed 7 states,” the authorization said. “Thank you for doing your part, conserving energy, and helping america negociate this utmost upwind event.”

Amid the blackouts, Nashville Mayor John Cooper had urged the Titans to postpone their game, saying that “all non-essential businesses should trim powerfulness usage.” He issued a follow-up tweet saying he appreciated the determination to hold the crippled an hour.

In general, prolonged acold snaps tin overwhelm the powerfulness grid by simultaneously knocking retired powerfulness proviso and causing a crisp summation successful request arsenic residents crook up the heat. For example, successful Texas successful February 2021, a wintertime tempest and lengthy acold play caused wide outages successful areas served by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, leaving millions of residents successful the acold and acheronian for astir a week.

The TVA informed residents connected Friday determination would beryllium rolling blackouts owed to the wintertime storm, though that directive was aboriginal rescinded.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland told CNN connected Friday hospitals and aesculapian offices were exempt. The TVA did not expect the grade of the concern anterior to the storm, helium said.

“This is simply a existent struggle. This has ne'er happened successful my lifetime, this hasn’t happened successful Memphis successful astatine slightest 50 years,” Strickland said Friday.

On Saturday morning, helium said the rolling blackouts crossed Memphis impacted much than 50,000 radical for astir 30 to 60 minutes astatine a time, apt 2 to 3 times per day.

“TVA has ever prided itself connected reliability. This is the archetypal clip TVA has required rolling blackouts,” Strickland told CNN. “It’s going to instrumentality a deeper dive into the reasons this happened.”

Strickland said that temperatures are not expected to emergence supra 32 degrees Fahrenheit for astatine slightest the adjacent 2 days.

The outages and rolling blackouts person affected overmuch of the US, peculiarly the Southeast.

As of 11 a.m. ET Saturday, Tennessee has astir 250,000 customers without power, and North Carolina has implicit 380,000 customers without power, according to the website PowerOutage.US. In Davidson County, Tennessee, which includes Nashville, much than 60% of customers were without power, the tract says.

Duke Energy, the electrical powerfulness institution headquartered successful Charlotte, North Carolina, connected Saturday greeting announced “emergency outages” arsenic highly acold somesthesia thrust unusually precocious vigor request crossed the Carolinas.

“We person begun short, impermanent powerfulness outages. These exigency outages are indispensable to support the vigor grid against longer, much wide outages. We admit your patience,” the energy supplier said successful a tweet.