SACRAMENTO, Calif. — With a fourth straight Flex Alert in effect for Saturday, the manager of California’s stressed electricity grid expressed confidence Saturday that the state could avoid rotating blackouts but acknowledged the massive heat wave has left California with little margin for error.
Elliot Mainzer, chief executive of the California Independent System Operator, said voluntary conservation efforts the past three nights had helped steer California away from rolling blackouts so far. He also credited an emergency proclamation by Gov. Gavin Newsom, which temporarily waived some environmental rules to allow more backup generators to kick in.
But Mainzer, speaking at a press briefing at the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, warned that with temperatures continuing to rise, “those last few days are likely to be a dress rehearsal for what’s going to be much more significant stress ... as we get into the heart of the weekend.”
The National Weather Service’s Sarah Rogoswki said much of inland California can expert temperatures to hit 115 degrees in the next few days, with coastal areas seeing highs in the 90s. Mainzer said the heat wave will create pressure on the power grid “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and potentially beyond.
“We’re right up against the margin of system capability,” he said.
The Independent System Operator, in preparation for more hot weather, called another Flex Alert for Sunday afternoon — the fifth straight day in which Californians will be asked to save energy.
The Flex Alert, in effect for 4 to 9 p.m., is a call for voluntary conservation. Californians were told to “pre-cool” their homes earlier in the day, and then turn their thermostats up to 78 degrees once the alert begins. They were also urged to postpone using dishwashers and other heavy appliances until after the alert ends.
Early evenings during heat waves are crunch time for the California grid. The state has become heavily dependent on green energy — renewables were accounting for 41% of total supply at midday Saturday — that the loss of solar power in the evening puts the state at risk for blackouts. That was a major factor in August 2020, when a heat wave swept across the West and hundreds of thousands of Californians lost power for a few hours on two consecutive nights.
Mainzer said the state should be able to procure enough imported energy from other states to help meet demand — unlike the 2020 heat wave, when 100-degree weather was so widespread that imports were choked off.
“It’s not quite as hot in the Pacific Northwest so we may get some good hydro imports,” he said. Imports from Arizona and other Southwest states should be available as well.
“We’ll be looking to every last megawatt of imports,” he said.
Yet he said the system is also vulnerable to unexpected hiccups. Blackouts were narrowly avoided in July 2021, when a wildfire in Oregon cut off a transmission line and cut off 4,000 megawatts of imported power.
“There is always uncertainty,” he said.
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