Record temperatures during the day turned into a rotating power outage for hundreds of thousands across the Bay Area Friday night.
The outages were expected to last at least 11 hours, and about an hour per affected neighborhood, according to a tweet from PG&E. The electrical emergency condition 3 of the step was declared due to increased demand for electricity due to the high heat. According to the PG&E, the outages were expected to affect between 200,000 and 250,000 customers.
It was the first time since 2001 that California’s Independent System Operator (ISO), which oversees the state network, requested a statewide rolling blackout.
The company said in a release Friday night that because the outages were an “emergency, PG&E will not be able to notify customers in advance of power outages, which could happen anywhere in PG & E’s service area.”
From 9.30pm, North Bay appeared to take the brunt of the outages. More than 23,000 customers in San Rafael and more than 9,000 in Sebastopol had lost power, according to the PG&E website. Nearly 5,500 customers in San Jose were without power, while fewer than 700 were reported for San Francisco.
Given strain on power grid at too much heat, PG&E starts turning power outages towards state network – Streams expected to affect about 200-250k customers in rotations of about one hour each – PG&E does not call PSPS https: // t. co / T6zB9U4pX2 pic.twitter.com/1JCCo5dO7f
– PG&E (@ PGE4Me) August 15, 2020
With temperatures dropping to triple digits throughout most of the region throughout the day, PG&E warned customers to save electricity to prevent power outages. But at 7 p.m., the lights went out in many weeks in the Bay Area.
PG&E announced on its website that “The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) has asked customers to retain power until 11 p.m. PG&E has started deploying power in rotating outages in the direction of CAISO. This is not a Power Shutoff for public safety. About 200,000 to 250,000 customers have been affected. ”
There was no word as the outages continued through the weekend. Most forecasts call for the heatwave to blow the region until early next week.
ISO called for a flex alert on Friday and will be calling shots all weekend. The warning serves as a warning to customers to save electricity when air conditioners are at peak use. Customers are encouraged to keep their thermostat at 78 degrees, draw their drapes and turn off unnecessary lighting. Phone chargers, power strips and other electrical appliances should be disconnected when not in use, the utility said, and charging of electric cars should be delayed until after 10 p.m.
Please check back for updates.
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