The Saharan Air Layer, also known as Saharan dust, is creating electricity supply issues due to the dust contaminating power production infrastructure. With a second wave of Saharan dust coming this weekend, JPS issues a warning for its utility customers.
“The heavy dust represents an increase in contaminants on the system which can result in short circuit conditions — especially if we have light rain,” said vice-president for energy delivery at the JPS, Blaine Jarrett.
“The JPS has been closely monitoring the situation and has intensified our maintenance activities to ensure limited disruption in power supply to our customers. However, in the event of power outages, JPS teams are on standby to respond as quickly as possible to restore service to affected customers,” added Jarrett.
Solar panels may see a drop in the power produced by these panels because the Saharan dust has reduced the impact of the sun’s rays, which could result in these customers taking more power than usual from the grid.
