The rolling blackouts millions of Californians braced for Monday night never materialized, but another warning is expected to be in effect again Tuesday as the Golden State wrestles with an electrical power shortage amid a record heat wave that power grid operators warned could lead to the largest blackouts in state history.
By Monday evening, the California Independent System Operator, which runs the state’s power grid, said major conservation efforts and desperate efforts to boost the state’s power supply appeared to be working, softening the immediate crisis. The blackouts threatened throughout the week are expected in the late afternoon and evening and would last between 1 to 2 hours.
The latest power crunch follows a series of large-scale shutdowns imposed by PG&E and other utilities during wind storms last fall as a precaution against wildfires being sparked by downed transmission lines. Large swaths of the state’s power grid were de-energized for days during those shutoffs.
The current heat wave, which has roasted parts of Southern California in triple-digit temperatures since Friday, was attributed to an enormous high-pressure system over much of the Western United States, and was expected last through Wednesday.
The hottest air temperature recorded anywhere on the planet in at least a century, and possibly ever, was reached in Death Valley in California’s Mojave Desert on Sunday afternoon, where it soared to 130 Fahrenheit (54.4 Celsius).
The state’s power grid was also pushed to its limits over the weekend by sporadic winds that disrupted wind farm power generation and the system failure of a key natural gas power plant, officials said.
There is still a “flex alert” from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. through Wednesday, August 18 and customers are being asked to conserve power, the ISO said.
“This heat storm is not over, and we still expect exceedingly hot temperatures today and tomorrow. With continued help from California residents in conserving energy, much like today, we can reduce the risk of power outages,” Berberich said in a statement Monday night.
“Because of high heat and limited energy supplies, rotating power outages still are likely over the next two days,” the ISO said in the statement.
