But the heat didn’t ebb and the power demand continued to climb, hitting a new record high of 52,000 megawatts - 25% greater than a typical summer weekday - at about 5 p.m.Įmergency natural gas generators were fired up across the state to fill the gap and new battery storage kicked in. Then the sun started sinking toward the horizon, and solar generation plummeted. Still, for most of that afternoon, all went smoothly on the California grid because solar and wind output was so high, offsetting about 30% of the total demand. Even solar panels become less efficient as the temperature climbs. Hydropower dams lose generating capacity when reservoir levels drop due to drought and evaporation. Heat saps efficiency from natural gas, coal and nuclear power plants by warming up the water used to cool them. Heat makes their job harder not only by increasing demand, but also by diminishing the supplies. Grid operators’ primary job is to “follow the load,” or match power supplies to the overall demand, lest the entire system collapse. 6, the overall demand on California’s grid climbed sharply in concert with the rising temperatures. When millions of them are working hard at the same time, it puts a significant amount of demand on the power grid. Folks revved up their air conditioners to keep homes and businesses habitable.Ī single air conditioner uses a lot of electricity. Daily and monthly records toppled across the southern part of the state. By mid-afternoon, all-time highs were being set from Sacramento (116 degrees Fahrenheit) to Napa (114 degrees) to San Jose (109 degrees). The sun beat down, and as the day wore on, the mercury climbed. The day dawned pleasantly enough, with temperatures in the 70s or 80s in most places. To get a better understanding of what’s really going on here, let’s go back to that Tuesday, when California’s grid teetered on the brink of darkness. And that is caused by, well, burning fossil fuels. But the transition away from fossil fuels isn’t the source of the woes, it’s an attempt to mitigate the real problem: A warming climate. It’s true that the rapid buildup of solar power has made it more difficult to manage the grid and that it’s important to adjust the timing of EV charging. Then the mainstream media piled on with headlines asking: How could the state possibly handle a flood of new electric vehicles draining the grid when it couldn’t keep the lights on now? It was the notification that so many Californians had feared and anticipated - the signal that soon the entire state would be plunged into an un-air-conditioned dystopia of its own making, otherwise known as rolling blackouts.Ĭonservative pundits had prophesied this moment for months, warning that California would pay for forsaking fossil fuels and choosing solar and wind and geothermal power instead. 6, spreading panic across the Golden State. The text message dinged and bleeped and buzzed millions of phones shortly after 5 p.m. Sign up to get it in your inbox.Ĭlimate change - not renewables - is straining the gridĬalifornia avoids rolling blackouts throughout record heat wave. This is an installment of the Landline, a fortnightly newsletter from High Country News about land, water, wildlife, climate and conservation in the Western United States.
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