MISO Ignored Warnings Before Holiday Blackout Left Blue City In The Dark
Power went out in New Orleans over Memorial Day weekend after months of grid failure warnings.
by Audrey Streb May 27, 2025, 8:30 AM
New Orleans was plunged into darkness on Sunday afternoon when the region’s grid operator cut off power to reduce usage, a “last resort” measure to prevent a large-scale blackout, according to Nola.com, a local news outlet. [emphasis, links added]
The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), a major electrical grid operator, directed the energy company Entergy to reduce power with only three minutes’ notice to prevent a blackout, affecting nearly 100,000 customers, according to NOLA.com.
Power was fully restored after several hours, although concerns about the power grid’s reliability remain, as President Donald Trump’s administration, energy policy experts, and multiple North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) reports have signaled that MISO is at an elevated risk of blackouts, due in part to the phasing out of coal-fired power plants.
“The forced outages were directed by MISO as a last resort, and done in order to prevent a more extensive, prolonged power outage that could severely affect the reliability of the power grid,” Entergy said in a Sunday statement.
https://climatechangedispatch.com/miso-holiday-blackout-new-orleans/
