LOS ANGELES — As an unprecedented heat wave continues to strain California’s power grid, officials have issued a ninth straight Flex Alert — this one slated to last two hours longer than the previous daily statewide announcements to limit energy consumption.
Thursday’s Flex Alert began at 3 p.m. and will last till 10 p.m. because of changing conditions that power grid officials say could stunt solar energy supplies. The Flex Alert hours for the last eight days have been from 4 to 9 p.m., during which the state has narrowly avoided widespread rolling blackouts on multiple days.
“The principal reason we’ve extended (the alert is) largely due to some uncertainty about how much production we will have from our renewable resources, primarily the solar, during the heart of the afternoon,” said Elliot Mainzer, president and chief executive of the California Independent System Operator, which runs the state’s power grid.
