LAKE COUNTY— As California residents were being asked to conserve energy on Thursday amid a high heat risk warning, Pacific Gas and Electric announced that the state’s grid operator issued a Grid Warning indicating that some customers might face rotating outages between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., for a period of about one to two hours. Concurrently, fire fighters were tackling a wildland fire featuring a rapid rate of spread in the Northshore region of the county. Evacuations were requested for Reclamation Road east to the cutoff in Nice at approximately 4:45 p.m. and Officials later reported the fire was at 25 acres.
According to information from the California Highway Patrol, at least 17 units had been dispatched to the incident dubbed “The Pomo incident” due to its proximity to Pomo Pumps between Upper Lake and Nice. The fire resulted in a hard closure of Highway 20 just east of Upper Lake at approximately 5:04 P.M. with scanner reports of of some ash falling in Lucerne. Red Hills Road was evacuated and officials also issued an evacuation warning for nearby roads.
Possible outages
The California Independent System Operator (CAISO), which oversees the larger power grid and balances energy demand with supply, says that the demand for electricity this afternoon and evening, mostly from air conditioners in use due to the triple-digit heat, could exceed the available supply. Utility officials noted that CAISO had not called for rotating outages Thursday.
“If demand exceeds supply, at the direction of the state’s grid operator, PG&E and other energy companies in the state could be asked to turn off power in order to help prevent larger outages to the grid,” utility officials noted.
If the CAISO indicates that power needs to be turned off, power could be out for about one to two hours for each block. Up to approximately 121,000 PG&E customers could be impacted. Officials urged residents to visit www.pge.com/rotatingoutages to see if their neighborhood might be affected.
Additionally, officials noted that light of the grid operator’s warning, utilities urged Californians to continue to conserve power until 10 p.m. Thursday to reduce power use as supplies continue to run tight during the peak period. The grid operator issued a Flex Alert, which asks for voluntary conservation until 10 p.m., and for the same time period on Friday.
Officials stated that rotating outages are not Public Safety Power Shutoffs, which are conducted during specific high fire-threat conditions.
PG&E is notifying customers who might experience these potential rotating outages, which would occur across PG&E’s service area.
Officials noted that PG&E already has implemented programs with key customers to reduce power usage today but asks for more voluntary efforts by customers to reduce overall power use.
