On Friday, state power managers ordered rolling power outages for the first time since 2001, causing hundreds of thousands of Californians to lose power as a heat wave strained the state’s electrical system.
The California Independent System Operator (California ISO), which manages the power grid, declared a stage 3 emergency around 6:30 p.m. and directed utilities around the state to shed their power loads. Shortly before 9 p.m., the grid operator lifted the emergency declaration.
âExtreme heat is really the driver behind this,â said Anne Gonzales, spokeswoman for the power grid operator.
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), the stateâs largest utility, tweeted that it would turn off power to about 200,000 to 250,000 customers in rotating outages for about an hour at a time until around 11 p.m.
The decision to implement rolling outages came as temperatures around the state hit triple digits in many areas, and air conditioning use soared.
“We would just encourage all of our customers to conserve as much energy as possible over the course of the next few days as we’re going to see continued multiple days of extreme heat,” said PG&E spokesperson Jeff Smith, who said the statewide heat wave prompted electricity demand that outpaced the available supply.
California ISO’s Gonzales said temperatures were 10 to 20 degrees above normal in some areas, plus cloudy weather from the remnants of a tropical weather system reduced power generation from solar plants.
The state urged conservation to prepare for the expected rise in electricity use by urging conservation and tried to buy more power but a high-pressure system building over Western states meant there was less available.
Temperatures and energy use dropped during the evening, and California ISO said the outages ended by 9 p.m.
The heat wave is expected to last through next week and the power grid operator will decide whether to continue the rolling outages on a day-to-day basis, Gonzales said.
âWeâre dealing with weather, clouds, wildfires … these are quickly evolving situations, quickly changing,â Gonzales said.
The last time the state ordered rolling outages was during an energy crisis in 2001. Blackouts occurred several times from January to May, including one that affected more than 1.5 million customers in March. The cause was a combination of energy shortages and market manipulation by energy wholesalers, infamously including Enron Corp., that drove up prices by withholding supplies.
Counties up and down the state reported scattered outages, although the city of Los Angeles, which has its own power generating system, wasnât affected.
Police departments warned people to watch out on roads where stoplights were out.
In Sonoma County in the wine country, the Santa Rosa Police Department received a flood of calls and pleaded with residents: âPlease do not call 911 unless you have an emergency.â
The heat wave brought dangerously high temperatures, increased wildfire danger and fears of coronavirus spread as people flock to beaches and parks for relief.
Heat records fell in several cities. Downtown San Francisco hit 90 degrees, topping a high for the date of 86 that was set in 1995. Salinas hit 102, 18 degrees above the record set just last year. Palm Springs hit 120, breaking a 2015 record by several degrees.
Sweltering weather was expected to continue into Wednesday across greater Los Angeles, the Central Valley, Sierra Nevada foothills and parts of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Santa Clara, Alameda and Contra Costa counties opened cooling centers that will welcome people this weekend from the afternoon to the early evening.
There are 12 cooling centers across Santa Clara county, including three in San Jose alone. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, cooling centers will require people to have their temperatures taken and answer some health screening questions before they enter.
Charlotte Graham from San Jose’s Parks and Recreation Department says she’s never seen the centers reach capacity but that could change this year: “With places like malls and movie theaters being closed where people might go to get air conditioning, those are not available right now, so we very well could see an uptick in visitation.”
San Jose’s cooling centers will remain open until at least next Wednesday, August 19.
Officials in San Francisco, on the other hand, are concerned about coronavirus transmissions during the heatwave. As a result, the city won’t be operating cooling centers, according to Mary Ellen Carroll, executive director of the city’s Department of Emergency Management.
San Francisco officials said the city is recommending people stay home and that if the heat indoors gets intolerable to go outside to a shady place where they can stay cool and distant from other people.
âCongregate indoor sites are not safe necessarily during COVID-19. It is better to follow other instructions during this heat wave,â Carroll said.
Carroll encouraged residents to check on family, friends and neighbors, especially older adults and those in frail health, and reminded people to always wear a face mask when in the vicinity of people who donât share their household.
âWe know itâs going to be beautiful out this weekend but we just want everyone to remember that we are in a very serious response to this COVID-19 virus,â Carroll said.
In addition to the possibility of heat stroke and other hot-weather illnesses, health officers were concerned that people will pack beaches, lakes and other recreation areas without following mask and social distancing orders â a major concern in the state that has seen more than 600,000 coronavirus cases.
Israel saw a COVID-19 resurgence after a May heat wave inspired school officials to let children remove their masks, Dr. George Rutherford, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
âPeople will want to take off their masks when itâs hot,â Rutherford said. âDonât do it.â
Lily Jamali, Adhiti Bandlamudi and Julie Chang of KQED News contributed to this report.
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