#Power utility iso#

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Although they have large populations, most people there do not use air conditioning.įorecasters, meanwhile, say Southern California’s heat wave will ease by Friday - but more potentially dramatic weather is on the way.The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. San Francisco, Marin and Humboldt counties are among those that did not receive alerts. Alerts were sent in English and in Spanish. There are about 27 million people in the targeted counties, Ferguson said. The alerts were sent to residents in Alameda, Butte, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Madera, Marin, Merced, Orange, Placer, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Shasta, Sonoma, Solano, Stanislaus, Tulare, Ventura and Yolo counties. But Mainzer insisted Wednesday morning that providers were only told to “be prepared to trigger rotating outages.” He said that there was “some level of confusion” that is now under investigation, and that those blackouts were unnecessary.Īccording to the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, which issued the text alert, residents in certain counties were targeted because of high temperatures, population density and air conditioner use. Some local utility providers in Northern California initiated short-lived blackouts Tuesday night, citing direction from the ISO.

“We do not like to have to be asking for this, but this heatwave is extraordinary,” Mainzer said. Officials rely on Flex Alerts, which have been issued every evening for the last eight days, to alleviate stress on the power grid. The state has continued to build up a demand-response and backup capacity, but the system remains vulnerable to the effects of climate change and extreme weather events like this historic heat wave. There have been several close calls with blackouts in the last few years the state’s most recent power outages occurred over two nights in August 2020. Tuesday’s record surpassed the previous all-time peak of 50,270 megawatts in July 2006. Officials projected peak demand at 51,146 megawatts, but by Tuesday evening, California set an all-time record of 52,061 megawatts. He called Tuesday an “extraordinarily challenging day” for the power grid, almost pushed to the brink as record-setting temperatures scorched much of the state. “That is a tool of absolute last resort.” “Our absolute intent is not to have to do that again,” Mainzer said of the text message. Turn off or reduce nonessential power if health allows, now until 9pm,” the text said. Power interruptions may occur unless you take action. “Extreme heat is straining the state energy grid. “We were down to the last gallon there.” That is, until the text alert was issued. “We were well into the reserve tank of the car,” Mainzer said. The state just reached record-setting electricity demand, and there was no sign that usage would ease.

#Power utility iso#

“The heat wave highlights really well that California is really behind in our resource build-out,” said Carrie Bentley, chief executive of Gridwell Consulting and a former California ISO policy designer, adding that the state has failed to “plan holistically” for maintaining energy reliability while confronting climate change.Ībout 30 minutes before the wireless emergency alert went out Tuesday, the ISO had readied local utility providers to implement rolling blackouts if conditions did not improve. On Wednesday evening, officials again warned of potential outages as the heat wave dragged on and demand soared. So despite California’s impressive conservation efforts Tuesday, the close brush with power interruptions renewed questions about how the state’s energy system will manage going forward, especially as climate change is projected to intensify extreme heat events. Other neighboring regions from which California imports energy are facing the same challenges. In addition, solar energy levels off in the evening. The unprecedented demand and oppressive temperatures have imposed continuous stress on the state’s power grid, where capacity is already stretched due to diminished hydropower supplies because of the drought.