The hot weather pushed the demand for power in California to capacity. Power blackouts occurred in some areas over the past few days, and that is expected to continue. The state seeing rolling black outs for the first time in nearly 20 years. The last time this occurred in 2001, which led to the recall of governor Gray Davis.
The California Independent System Operator, which runs the states power grid, declared a stage 3 emergency alert around 6:30 Friday evening. That’s the first time that has occurred since 2001. By eight Friday night, about 150 thousand homes and businesses lost power. The grid managers had to deliberately cut about 1,000 megawatts of power. PG and E alone had 120 thousand homes and businesses without power due to the statewide emergency. The grid operators lifted the stage 3 alert by nine Friday night. Full restoration of power returned by eleven.
The areas impacted included 55,000 homes in El Dorado county east of Sacramento. In Orange county, at least 132 thousand Southern California Edison customers were impacted by the emergency.
