Blackouts are back in California
California’s blackouts are back. During the past, very hot weekend, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. preemptively shut off power to tens of thousands of customers in five Northern California counties. While the outages were relatively brief — more than 20,000 customers in Napa, Butte, Yuba, Yolo and Solano counties endured shutoffs that lasted for several hours — they’re only the first of many to come.
The action continued in the Bay Area Tuesday afternoon, when more than 17,000 PG&E customers lost power. The East Bay in particular suffered from outages, with about 7,300 people in Berkeley and Oakland losing power.
“They were weather-related outages,” said PG&E spokesman Jeff Smith.
The utility admitted Tuesday that its transformers in the Bay Area aren’t always equipped to handle heat waves of the kind that’s gripped Northern California over the past week.
Transformers are machines that transfer electrical energy between two or more circuits, usually changing the voltage so electricity can travel over long distances. Transformer devices form a critical part of the power grid, and they can be especially vulnerable to excessive heat.
PG&E has dealt with this problem in hot areas like the Central Valley by installing transformers that are capable of handling (and using) more power.
But the cost of transformers is based on the amount of electricity they can handle. In the normally temperate Bay Area, PG&E relies on transformers that are designed for cooler weather.
The California Public Utilities Commission and the Legislature may need to put that choice up for review in a time of climate change.
Installing larger transformers in more places would be expensive for the utility, but outages are expensive for its customers. With PG&E’s bankruptcy almost certain to result in higher prices for ratepayers, state officials need to keep the public’s changing needs at the top of their minds.
As for the planned outages, they have been controversial since PG&E had its first “proactive de-energization event” in the North Bay and the Sierra foothills during the height of wildfire season in October 2018.
PG&E has a list of criteria it says it uses before making shutoff decisions.
The list includes a red flag warning from the National Weather Service (the mix of warm temperatures, low humidity, and high winds that produce an elevated risk of fire), humidity levels measuring 20% or less, forecasted winds above 25 miles per hour, dry fuel and live vegetation on the ground, along with field observations from the utility’s safety crews.
In light of its past safety record, the utility can’t be faulted for seeking to avoid sparking wildfires. There are times when planned outages may be necessary, and even desirable.
But PG&E also has many customers who rely on power not just for their comfort but to sustain their lives. It would also help if the utility did more outreach so the public understands why shutoffs are happening — and if it provided a backup plan for its most vulnerable ratepayers, preferably paired with strong state oversight.
Even with these potential improvements, the events of last weekend should serve as a wake-up call for the Bay Area. As a result of the changing climate, the time of consistent, on-demand electric access may be coming to an end. Managing this shift will require fortitude — and oversight.