Grid Operators Brace the Fusion Fleet for a Third Heat Peak

LAGOS — Fusion supplies roughly thirty percent of the reconnected grid, and this week nearly every megawatt of it is spoken for. As a third heat dome settles over the West African corridor, Aurora Fusion Works reported its baseload fleet running at the top of its licensed envelope to hold air-conditioning load through the afternoon crest. "We are not short of power today, but we have no slack, and slack is what keeps the lights on tomorrow," said chief executive Emeka Okonkwo, who confirmed a new baseload reactor is on track to synchronize in early August — a step he expects will nudge fusion past thirty-one percent of the grid. Grid controller Amara Diallo, who has ridden the Lagos load desk for nine summers, put it plainer: peak demand has broken her prior records four days running. The reactors do not tire; the margins do. Until the new unit joins, operators are trading reserve for comfort, one afternoon at a time.