California's worst power shortage in years comes as coronavirus makes beating the heat harder
The blackouts, which typically lasted an hour or two, cut power to more than 130,000 Southern California Edison customers and approximately 220,000 Pacific Gas & Electric customers in Northern California’s El Dorado, Napa, Marin, San Mateo and Sonoma counties.In addition to the spike in demand, the sheer breadth of the heat wave, which covers a huge swath of the western United States, was a key culprit.
But even during these conditions, overall electricity demand has followed the usual pattern: climbing during the workweek and trailing off over the weekend, according to Gonzales. Officials initially thought this would prevent further interruptions over the weekend, but Saturday night, both Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric announced more blackouts. Southern California Edison also warned of more blackouts.
A notice on Kern County’s website laying out new precautions says people seeking refuge will be screened for fevers and other COVID-19 symptoms before entering a cooling center and those displaying signs of the disease will not be allowed inside. Once inside, people will be asked to stay six feet apart and will be “encouraged” to wear a face covering, the website says.
“I think there’s a variety of factors we all need to be concerned about,” said Margie Otto, spokeswoman for Pasadena Power and Water. “There’s the potential for wildfires, the high heat, energy use and all of the power generation sources.”The utility received a directive from Cal ISO to shed load at about 7:30 p.m. Friday, followed by another notification a half-hour later that it was no longer necessary, she said. About 1,500 of its 65,000 electrical customers were without power for 30 minutes.
The goal of the controlled shutoffs is to avoid longer and more widespread outages due to equipment failures that can result when high demand overburdens the system, he said. The utility has also deployed emergency management crews throughout its service territory to quickly respond to and repair those types of outages for the duration of the heat wave.“We totally understand it’s a hardship when you’re without power, especially in this time when options are limited,” Villegas said.
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