Rolling blackouts are a "possibility" as historic western heatwave continues
RANCHO CORDOVA -- Rotating power outages are a possibility Monday and Tuesday in California as temperatures continue to break records for heat.
Tuesday's forecasted demand for energy is 51,000 megawatts, which if reached, would be the highest on record in September. The California Independent System Operator's (Cal ISO) President, Elliot Mainzer, said it will take two to three times the amount of energy conservation over the next 48 hours to keep the grid stable.
"The forecast for Tuesday would be above the highest demand ever seen in California, which was back in July 2006. Our goal is to not see that number," said Mainzer.
Energy leaders from across California reiterated the message to Californians to raise the thermostat to 78 degrees during peak hours and shift major electricity consumption out of the 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. period during the Flex Alert to conserve energy.
"This is an extraordinary event, this is a record-setting heatwave in terms of temperature and duration," said Mainzer.
Cal ISO has rehearsed for these kinds of extreme weather events, Mainzer said, and worked with CalFire on preemptive work on the fire side to keep transmission lines protected in the event of a fire threat.
Over the last two nights, California has been able to import energy from the Pacific Northwest and expects these imports to continue as needed.
Rolling blackouts are possible due to the extreme heat for consecutive days and more demand for power. If the backup plans, imports, and cutbacks to energy use are not enough, Cal ISO can issue rotating outages.
These are allocated through individual utility companies. The utilities make the call on the best way to allocate the rotating outages with the goal of keeping them short with little disruption.
"They would, likely, be of relatively shorter duration as we move through the evening until demand fell off." said Mainzer.
The current demand and forecasted peak is tracked by Cal ISO online.