[ad_1]
SAN DIEGO – California’s power grid is still strained as the state continues to go through an unprecedented heatwave, resulting in eight straight days of Flex Alerts and a ninth day- and possibly even tenth- expected to finish off the week.
Late Wednesday afternoon, the California Independent System Operator moved the state into a Level 2 energy emergency which triggers immediate safety protocols to meet demand.
The Flex Alert times are set between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. due to high energy demand and less wind and solar power available.
Elliot Mainzer, CEO of the California Independent System Operator, said Wednesday, “in which case all the efforts and response and backup generation capabilities that we have been pulling together in recent weeks and months will be made available to us. Of course, the hope is that will be sufficient to keep us out what is known as a Stage 3 condition.”
Despite all efforts, around 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday- a little more than an hour into the flex alert- Cal ISO did declare a Level 3 emergency, begging residents via texts to conserve. Luckily, they did.
“We watched the real-time supply-demand balance for the grid. If we get to that point where all of these other tools that we have described the energy, the demand response, the emergency response our operating reserves if those are exhausted at that point we would be conveying to the utilities that it would be time to drop a load.”
It’s up to SDG&E to decide how to drop load– which means start rotating outages.
Residents will receive a text message and or email but customers can check their bill to see where their circuit lies on the list. The goal is to keep the outage to an hour, officials said.
During the Flex Alert, consumers are asked to increase their thermostats to 78 degrees or higher, avoid using major appliances, and refrain from charging their electric vehicles. It’s also recommended that you pull the plug on your power wall and other appliances and turn off your pool’s heater and filter.
“This is a time here in California where we really do need to step up and work together and bend that demand curve,” Mainzer said.
The heat is not going away anytime soon, either. Although San Diego is expected to get rain this week, temps will stay up through the end of the week. It’s expected that Cal ISO will extend the Flex Alert to Thursday.
For more updates on the power grid, click HERE.
[ad_2]
Source link
