Authorities are telling Californians to conserve electricity Thursday evening, as a heatwave that coincides with a severe drought has limited the availability of hydroelectric power to the state.
The California Independent System Operator has issued a “Flex Alert” for the hours of 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., asking residents to conserve electricity when demand is expected to be highest.
High temperatures are expected throughout the region on Thursday and Friday.
Hydroelectric power generated from the state’s largest dams accounted for nearly 11% of California’s power supply in 2018.
Together with hydroelectric power from smaller dams, hydroelectric power accounted for over 12% of the total.
Solar and wind power accounted for just over 11% each; natural gas was the largest power source, at nearly 35%.
Last August, California suffered blackouts during a heatwave, as overcast skies and calm winds meant that renewable energy sources were unavailable to deal with surging demand from residents using air conditioning and fans to keep cool.
At the time, Governor Gavin Newsom admonished residents that California needed to “sober up” about the weaknesses of renewable energy sources, adding that the state needed “backup” and “insurance” from traditional fossil fuel sources during times of peak demand.
Despite that, as the Sacramento Bee reported Wednesday, “Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has refused to waver from the state’s goal of building a carbon-free power grid by 2045, as dictated by state law.”
Read more at Breitbart
My son is a software engineer. They have to run tests that go continuously for 20 days. They use uninterruptible power supplies for short power hits, but longer outages would be a serious problem. I’m not sure that they could install a generator where the office is located.
The power outage at my current company that happened at 10:00 created a dilemma. This company is just barely surviving. If they kept everyone at work and the power didn’t come back on for several hours, that is a lot of payroll for no productivity. If they sent everyone home and the power wasn’t out that long, then that is most of a day of lost productivity.
Though I haven’t worked in such areas personally, I know there are some processes where if the power is interrupted for more than a short time, the material must be thrown out.
I’m sure that the politicians and their activists masters are not even aware of the industrial impact of unreliable power. If they did know I doubt that they would care.
The wind goes calm when the temps pass through the third digit, so turbines are stilled when most needed
California yes i live in California and our Governor is a total idiot thats one of the reasons were recalling this Dip-Wad
China doesn’t have that problem — because they know how to use fossil fuels and nuclear. It’s a very simple, cheap, and reliable solution … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1Iu9D5RhqQ&t