BREAKING NEWS: Power plant explosion caused electrical grid surge, triggered outages across D.C. and Maryland

WASHINGTON (WJLA/AP) – The White House, State Department, Capitol and University of Maryland were all affected by widespread power outages across Washington and its Maryland suburbs on Tuesday afternoon.

PJM Interconnection, a regional transmission organization that coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in numerous states including D.C. and Maryland, told ABC7 News that several generating units tripped and went offline. Spokesman Ray Dotter said PJM was attempting to restart the power stations, but there was no estimated time for power restoration.

It appeared the power grid problem was triggered by a surge that stemmed from an explosion at a Southern Maryland Electric Co-Operative (SMECO) plant in Newburg in Charles County, an official told the Associated Press.
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