Calif. State Regulators Increase Power Capacity To Combat Blackout Risk

By CBSLA Staff, CBS Los Angeles:

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA/AP) — After several rolling blackouts last year due to extreme heat, California state energy regulators say they have increased their power capacity in an effort to avoid blackouts again this year.

The California Independent Systems Operator (Cal ISO) — the independent, nonprofit agency which oversees the state’s power grid — has acquired an additional 3,500 megawatts of capacity ahead of a likely scorching summer that threatens to increase demand beyond what the grid can handle. That includes an additional 2,000 megawatts of batteries designed to store energy generated from renewable sources — like solar — that stop working when it gets dark.

In general, one megawatt of energy is enough to power hundreds of homes, depending on how it is generated.

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