Lawsuits Run Amok in California

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San Francisco-based power provider PG&E Corp said on Friday it has started rotating power outages at the direction of California's grid operator, impacting about 200,000 to 250,000 customers at a time, given the strain on the power grid during the statewide heatwave.

The company said in a statement it is not calling a public safety power shut-off, which is conducted during specific high fire threat conditions.

PG&E said its outages, directed by the California Independent System Operator, are expected to impact up to 250,000 customers at a time in rotations of one hour each.

PG&E will not be able to inform customers in advance of the shut-offs that could occur anywhere within the company's service area, the statement said.

Last year, PG&E's power shut-offs hit hundreds of thousands of homes and workplaces in northern California and were condemned by customers as well as authorities for being too widespread, with insufficient communication.

The company recently emerged from bankruptcy, marking an end to a long-drawn restructuring process which began after its equipment sparked some of the deadliest wildfires in California.

PG&E starts rotating power outages impacting up to 250,000 customers at a time

California's electrical providers, reporting "an energy shortfall" during a prolonged heat wave, imposed rolling blackouts Friday that have impacted at least 2 million people, authorities said.

The California Independent System Operator, which manages the power grid, declared an emergency shortly after 6:30 p.m. and directed utilities around the state to slash their power loads by 1,000 megawatts. The resulting outages affected an estimated 750,000 homes.

Pacific Gas & Electric, the state's largest utility, tweeted that it would turn off power to about 220,000 customers in rotating outages for about an hour at a time. Other utilities were told to do the same.

“Unfortunately, because of the emergency nature of this, we weren’t able to notify customers in advance,” Jeff Smith, a company spokesman, said in a telephone interview with Bloomberg.

The outages occurred for 60 to 90 minutes on a rotating basis through the utility’s northern and central California service territory, he said.

The emergency declaration ended just before 10 p.m. and officials said power has been restored statewide.

“Extreme heat is really the driver behind this," said Anne Gonzales, spokeswoman for the power grid operator.

“We’re dealing with weather, clouds, wildfires ... these are quickly evolving situations, quickly changing,” she said.

People cooped up in their homes in the heat and blasting fans and air conditioners to keep cool was another factor that contributed to the Stage 3 grid emergency.

The intense heat wave is expected to last through the weekend, bringing triple-digit temperatures and extreme fire danger to several parts of the state.

Excessive heat warnings for much of California are in effect through Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.

In some parts of the state, including Santa Clara, Alameda and Contra Costa counties, officials opened cooling centers for people to seek refuge in the afternoon and early evening. San Francisco officials said the city is recommending people stay home and that if the heat indoors gets unbearable, to go outside to a shady place where they can stay cool and distance from other people.

“Congregate indoor sites are not safe necessarily during COVID-19. It is better to follow other instructions during this heat wave," said Mary Ellen Carroll, executive director of the Department of Emergency Management.

Source: California blackouts pull plug on 2 million as heat wave bakes state

California suffered a second day of rolling electricity blackouts on Saturday evening as the state’s power grid struggled to deal with a heat wave that caused a surge in consumer demand.

There was widespread public confusion, as the state’s electricity grid operator had said earlier in the day that no blackouts would be necessary.

Critics suggested that the blackouts should not have been necessary, since the state had contracted to buy more power than was demanded on Friday and Saturday.

Officials blamed the “unexpected loss of a 470-megawatt power plant Saturday evening, as well as the loss of nearly 1,000 megawatts of wind power,” the San Jose Mercury News reported. In addition, cloud cover over the desert meant solar energy was in short supply.

Source: California Suffers 2nd Day of Blackouts as Wind, Solar Power Falter

this power and fire mess in california is an ignored opportunity for people like elon musk to democratize back-up power generation. this could make him richer than god.

It would. Be a very humanistic thing to do. That’s prolly not how they made all their money. But it would be a wonderful idea .

there is a drastic shortage of public-spirited billionaires, or even millionaires for that matter, at least in this country.

Sadly this appears to be the truth. , but if it’s a popular charity. They will certainly try to get they name associated will it .

ironically, the most "popular" of public spirited projects would be those that benefit THE PEOPLE, but that isn't good enough for a majority of the people to demand it. everybody is too afraid some "undeserving" people will benefit.

That’s a difficult one . Who is. And who isn’t.?

in our class-riven nation, the working class don't want to see the idle rich get over yet again, and the middle class doesn't want to see the working class get one scrap, not one crumb, work them even harder.

More Blackouts in California

California power authorities are planning to cut power for residents across 38 counties – affecting nearly a million people – as extreme fire weather threatens the region again. The shutoffs are expected as early as Sunday morning and may last into Tuesday. Planned power outages are expected to include parts of the Sacramento Valley, the northern and central Sierra Nevada, the Santa Cruz mountains and most of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Source: California to cut off power for 1 million people to avoid sparking more wildfires

i don't think i'd like to live in those places unless i was rich enough for a secure uninterruptible power supply and fireproof construction.

There are ways to beef up the construction of a home to make it more fire resistant. On my home I have a metal roof. It looks like an asphalt roof but it is made out of metal. Since most fires in the west send streams of hot burning embers into the air, when these embers come back down they tend to land on the roof of the home and the roof quickly becomes fuel. In California they have clay tile/cement tile roofs that can also protect the roof.

Brick, stucco and metal siding can protect the sides of homes to some degree.

A few years ago, I came across a sample of imitation wood. It was the most fabulous thing I ever saw and experimented with. They placed it into a wood stove and burned wood for two solid days. The wood was totally unaffected. I survived like new. I place it into a bucket of water for two days. Again no damage. The wood was made from coal ash. Unfortunately the company that made it went out of business. This imitation wood could stand up against a firestorm.

[But you still have to keep the dried shrub away from the home if you want the structure to survive.]

You can built structures to survive many types of calamities. It reminds me of doctor who built a hurricane proof house in Florida. It survived a CAT 4 Hurricane. So it can be done.
What can we learn from the house that survived Hurricane Michael?