Conservation again prevents rolling blackouts
As California avoided more heatdriven rolling blackouts Wednesday, state energy leaders offered their most extensive explanation yet for how the state arrived at its worst electricity crisis in 19 years.
Grid managers had warned early Wednesday of another possible power supply shortage as demand rose during a long, intense heat wave and wildfires ravage the state. But for the third day in a row, conservation efforts helped prevent rotating energy cuts.
At the same time, leaders of the grid operator and two state energy agencies sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom detailing why they think the shortages happened and how they are responding. In the letter, the people in charge of the California Independent System Operator, the California Public Utilities Commission and the California Energy Commission said the state needs to reexamine its rules about energy supplies and reserves.
“The forecasts and planning reserves need to better account for the fact that climate change will mean more heat storms and more volatile imports, and that our changing electricity system may need larger reserves,” the letter said.
Additionally, California seems to have relied too much on outofstate power imports to meet high demand for electricity during the late afternoon and early evening in the summer, the letter said. That has been a problem recently because intense heat has broadly affected the Western United States, limiting California’s access to power from other places.
The letter firmly rejected any notion that solar and wind power are inherently at fault for the rolling blackouts.
“Renewable energy did not cause the rotating outages,” the letter said. “Our organizations understand the impacts wind and solar have on the grid. We have already taken many steps to integrate these resources, but we clearly need to do more. Clean energy and reliable energy are not contradictory goals.”
The system operator imposed blackouts on Friday and Saturday when energy supplies ran short, largely due to increased air conditioner use because of the heat wave. Further outages were possible all week amid persistently highdemand forecasts for power. The weather is expected to improve on Thursday.
State officials, utility companies and the system operator have tried to shore up as much power as possible while easing strain on the grid. Examples include San Francisco maximizing output from its hydroelectric system at the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power brought more electric generation online from two power plants.
Also, some large power uses have scaled back, including Tesla’s Fremont factory, according to Steve Berberich, CEO of the system operator that manages most of the state’s grid.
Longerterm measures are also expected to help, including 3,300 megawatts of new power capacity ordered by the utilities commission, but that won’t start to be available until next year. Officials have promised a more exhaustive review of the rolling blackouts.
Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters Wednesday that a thorough investigation of the crisis will help ensure that a similar energy shortage “will never happen again.”
He vowed not to turn back the state’s commitment to achieving 100% of its power from renewable sources — suggesting that part of the answer was to invest more in solar energy storage.
The hundreds of wildfires burning around the state were not threatening any major electric infrastructure as of Wednesday afternoon, Berberich said.