California is facing a chance of blackouts this year amid the brutal heat wave, affecting the state with triple-digit temperatures.
The State energy officials released a statement and revealed that the electrical load on Tuesday afternoon could increase by 51,000 megawatts, the highest demand the state has ever seen.
“As people crank up their air conditioners, the state forecasted record levels of energy used,” Elliot Mainzer, president of California Independent System Operators, which runs the state’s electrical grid, said.
“The state has additional energy capacity at the moment but blackouts, rolling, rotating outages are a possibility,” he added and called the additional conservation “absolutely essential.”
According to the forecast on Tuesday, the CAISO site revealed that California could also drop by over 5,000 megawatts short of its power supply at peak demand.
In the report released by NewsMax, the “danger of wildfires extreme as scorching heat and low humidity turned brush to tinder. Four deaths were reported over the Labor Day weekend as some 4,400 firefighters battled 14 large fires around the state, with 45 new blazes on Sunday alone,” Anale Burlew, a deputy chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said.
Moreover, the Riverside County Fire Department also revealed that in Southern California, two people were killed and one injured by the Fairview Fire, which started Monday near the city of Hemet.
“Roughly 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, the fire had quickly spread to more than 2,000 acres by 11 p.m., prompting evacuations, and was only 5% contained. Multiple residential structures burned,” the report added.
“California’s energy grid runs on a mix of mostly solar and natural gas during the day, along with some imports of power from other states. But solar power begins to fall off during the late afternoon and into the evening, which is the hottest time of day in some parts of the state. And some of the aging natural gas plants California relies on for backup power aren’t as reliable in hot weather,” it continued.
On Monday, the CAISO reportedly requested four temporary emergency power generators that would be deployed by the Department of Water Resources in Yuba and Roseville City which provides up to 120 megawatts, enough electricity for 120,000 homes.
In addition, on Tuesday, the CAISO has issued a Flex Alert call for voluntary conservation which makes seven alerts in as many days. As a result, the consumers were encouraged to maintain their air conditioners at 78 degrees (25.5 degrees C) or higher during the period and prevent the use of major appliances such as dishwashers and ovens.
“The efforts have worked to keep the lights on but we have now entered the most intense phase of this heat wave that could last into the week, and two to three times the level of conservation will be needed from people and businesses,” Mainzer said.
Meanwhile on Monday, CAISO issued a Stage 2 Energy Emergency Alert from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
According to CAISO website, “the second of three emergency alert stages means taking emergency energy-saving measures such as tapping backup generators, buying more power from other states and using so-called demand response programs.”
