# Rotating power outages

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rotating-power-outages/627737>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 9, 2012, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rotating-power-outages/627737 "2012-07-09T22:26:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rotating-power-outages/627737/1 "2012-07-09T22:26:31Z")

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OK - another question about power failures. It’s hot and humid enough up here that they have had to implement rotating brief blackouts to conserve power. First time I ever recall that happening in Alberta!

My question - I trust that the power companies have good reason for doing that; however what would happen if they just said “screw it” and didn’t bother doing anything? Brownouts? Likelihood of catastrophic failure?

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**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rotating-power-outages/627737/2 "2012-07-09T22:44:58Z")

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If the voltage gets too low, you’ll get brownouts. If it gets way too low, most of the grid will start to initiate protective measures and trip offline, resulting in a cascading blackout.