SDG&E: SANTA ANA WINDS MAY PROMPT OUTAGES

Dry gusts could lead to preventative power shutoffs

Responding to forecasts for high winds that could knock down power lines, San Diego Gas & Electric late Tuesday afternoon notified about 88,700 customers — many living in backcountry areas — that they could lose power in the coming days.

The National Weather Service issued a red f lag warning starting this evening and running through Saturday evening, predicting strong, potentially damaging Santa Ana winds.

SDG&E said the possible cutoffs could come as early as today. Customers in coastal areas may also lose power.

Called Public Safety Power Shutoffs, the preemptive de-energizing of lines is something utilities in California have increasingly used to reduce the risk of high winds knocking down power lines and potentially igniting wildfires.

“We’ve been working closely with the National Weather Service forecasters and we are now feeling confident a strong Santa Ana wind will develop (Wednesday) evening, streng then into Thursday morning and then linger into the week

on first-in, last-out loading requirements.

As a result, less-than-full truckload shipments arrive faster and stay on the same vehicle, avoiding possible damage from being unloaded and transferred through the freight industry’s traditional hub and spoke system.

“Unlike the digital freight-matching category that uses technology to simply improve efficiency as workflow automation, Flock Freight uses technology to power a new shipping mode — shared truckload — that makes freight transportation more efficient,” said Zaslansky in a statement.

Flock Freight also said that its shared truck solution can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 40 percent.

The company will use the money to accelerate product development for its pooling technology algorithms.

Along with SoftBank, existing Flock Freight investors including SignalFire, GLP Capital Partners, and Google Ventures also participated in the round.

In addition, Volvo Group Venture Capital also made a minority investment. Volvo is a strategic partner of Flock Freight.

With the new funding, SoftBank Investment Advisors partner Ervin Tu will join Flock Freight’s board of directors. Japanese tech giant SoftBank created Vision Fund 2 in 2019.

“Flock Freight is the first and only freight company to create a new shipping mode, using algorithms to pool multiple shipments together and transport them along the same route,” said Tu in a statement. “As a result, Flock Freight is improving supply chain efficiency for hundreds of thousands of shippers. Our investment is intended to accelerate the company’s ability to scale its business and capture a greater share of the market.”