A new round of rolling electrical blackouts for up to 2 million homes and businesses was averted for the third day Tuesday as an extreme heatwave that has scorched the Bay Area and much of California with triple-digit temperatures for the past four days continued, straining the state’s power grid.
The California Independent System Operator, which runs the state power grid, declared a Stage 2 emergency around 2:20 p.m. Tuesday, saying that outages were “likely” unless residents and companies immediately began conserving electricity. By 7 p.m. no blackouts had occurred and ISO credited power created by wind as well as conservation with helping keep the lights on in the Bay Area and across California.
Just before 8 p.m., the ISO announced outages had been averted. But it also warned that a Flex Alert was again in place for Wednesday.
That's a wrap. You did it, California consumers. No rotating power outages expected tonight. #ItWorked Thank you for keeping the #electricity flowing. https://t.co/AkPvZaE6Ah Another #FlexAlert in place tomorrow 3-10. #KeepConservingCA
— California ISO (@California_ISO) August 19, 2020
“Californians made tonight a success,” said Steve Berberich, president of the ISO, in a statement Monday night. “Everyone pulled together and responded to our warning with action to avoid any interruption in electricity supplies.”
Rolling blackouts that state power officials had expected Sunday, Monday and again Tuesday were avoided by huge conservation efforts and are urgently needed again during this week’s heatwave to keep the lights on, grid operators said. The grid on Tuesday also received some imported power, and wind plants churned some resources into the system late in the day.
Berberich said conservation by residents and corporations Monday afternoon barely saved the state from historic blackouts an hour or two before they were to begin. State grid officials also were able to import some additional electricity from dams in the Pacific Northwest, and officials in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office urged ports, refineries and other large users to curb electrical use. State water officials slowed pumping in the State Water Project and increased hydroelectric power at Oroville Dam and other facilities.
“Starting at 3 p.m., we had a dramatic flattening of the load curve like we have never seen before,” Berberich said. “We believe it is all attributable to the great work that people did to conserve.”
Now state officials say, all of it needs to be done again. Immediately.
Officials at PG&E and the ISO urged Californians to turn air conditioning up to 78 degrees. They also urged residents to close drapes, and run washing machines, dryers, dish washers, electric car chargers and other big appliances later in the evening, after 10 p.m., or early in the morning.
Weather experts called the week-long heat wave the worst in California since 2006.
“This is probably the biggest heat wave in the last decade, maybe longer. And it’s not over yet,” said Daniel Swain, a UCLA climate scientist. “We’ve hit numerous daily record high temperatures from the North Coast of California to the deserts. There will be a bit of reprieve later this week, but it looks like it is going to heat up again next week.”
President Trump used the occasion to blast the state, saying in a series of tweets: “In California, Democrats have intentionally implemented rolling blackouts — forcing Americans in the dark. Democrats are unable to keep up with energy demand. Meanwhile, I gave America energy independence in fact, so much energy we could never use it all. The Bernie/Biden/AOC Green New Deal plan would take California’s failed policies to every American!”
Asked about that, Berberich, the ISO chief, said of the orders for rolling blackouts: “Those are issued by a shift manager in our control room. There wasn’t any party affiliation or other kind of input with the decision to shed load on Friday and Saturday night.”
California’s grid problems are fairly simple. In recent years, the state has dramatically expanded the use of renewable energy like solar and wind to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Normally, there is enough electricity to cover needs. But on very hot days, demand soars when people crank up air conditioning late in the afternoon, just as the sun is beginning to set on large solar farms.
Power grid operators make up the difference by importing electricity from other states. But during this Western-wide heat wave, little extra has been available. The solution, grid managers say, is for the California’s Public Utilities Commission to pass new rules requiring utilities such as PG&E to sign more long-term contracts to guarantee that power generating companies can supply them more electricity during emergency heat wave demand. Other energy experts say that expanding large-scale battery projects to store solar power then releasing it at night, along with setting rules to have utilities buy electricity from people with residential batteries, like Tesla’s Power Wall, and sell it back during tight times, can help fill the gap.
By mid-day Tuesday, ISO officials had said their forecasts showed that starting at about 4 p.m., electricity demand on the grid would be greater than supplies, peaking with a shortfall of about 2,700 megawatts around 8 p.m.
While that number was smaller than the deficit made up Monday of 4,400 megawatts, it still represented enough electricity to power roughly 2 million homes.
The National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning until Wednesday at 9 p.m. for most of Northern California, including all nine Bay Area counties, along with Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.
High temperatures on Tuesday reached 109 in Parkfield in Monterey County, 107 in Antioch, 106 in Concord, 105 in Livermore, 100 in Morgan Hill, 85 in Oakland, and 77 in San Francisco. A record fell in Gilroy, which reached 104, beating the previous record of 102 set in 1966, and records were tied in Redwood City with 99 — matching a record set in 1934; and in San Jose, where 97 degrees matched a record set in 1934.
The heat wave was caused by a huge dome of high pressure air extending from the southwest over California. But as the Earth continues to gradually warm from climate change, such events are becoming more common, scientists say, increasing not just strain on power grids, but the size and intensity of wildfires.
“Climate change is making heat waves that would have occurred anyway more intense,” Swain said. “It also is increasing overall the likelihood of having a heat wave in the first place.”
The good news: The mercury should start falling later in the week, forecasters said.
“We’ve got a trough off the coast moving into the Pacific Northwest,” said Cynthia Palmer, a forecaster with the National Weather Service. “That’s allowing the marine layer to re-establish itself. As that trough kicks inland on Thursday, we should see some cooler temperatures.”
Check back for updates.
