32K Without Power In Bay Area Amid Record-Breaking High Temps: PG&E

BAY AREA, CA — There were 32,404 customers without power Tuesday afternoon across the Bay Area amid record-breaking high temperatures — with rotating outages possible Tuesday evening, according to PG&E.

• San Francisco: 1,177
• Peninsula: 646
• North Bay: 936
• East Bay: 7,808
• South Bay: 21,837

"To restore power safely and quickly, we are using our outage prediction models that help us determine the potential timing, location, and number of power outages and then have been moving crews to those locations," PG&E Spokesperson Deanna Contreras said.

PG&E Prepares For Heat-Related Outages

With high temperatures continuing across California and the West, the state’s grid operator directed utilities including PG&E to prepare for possible rotating power outages due to the potential for electricity supply on the larger Western region grid to fall short of the increased demand.

Rotating outages are a series of controlled outages that would affect customers for 1-2 hours. Rotating outages would relieve stress on the grid to help prevent more widespread power outages.

To help avert rotating outages, the California Independent System Operator —CAISO — and California utilities strongly urged customers to continue conserving power during Tuesday’s Flex Alert until 9 p.m.

As of 2 p.m., the CAISO had not asked utilities, including PG&E, to implement rotating outages. However, out of an abundance of caution, PG&E gave advanced notification to approximately 525,277 customers to prepare for potential rotating outages Tuesday evening in case they need to take place. The CAISO supports utilities notifying their customers of potential power outages so that customers can be ready.

If electricity demand conditions do not improve, CAISO could direct PG&E and other utilities to begin rotating outages. CAISO oversees the larger power grid and balances energy demand with supply.

For purposes of rotating outages, PG&E’s service area is divided into areas called blocks. Each block is made up of several neighborhoods. Customers can visit Pge.com/rotatingoutages or check their printed bill for details and to check if their outage block may be affected.

In addition to the energy supply concerns driving Flex Alerts, sustained high temperatures have the potential to damage electrical equipment, leading to local outages. PG&E has activated its Emergency Operations Center and is mobilizing the necessary personnel and materials to be able to restore power safely and efficiently.

Heat-related equipment outages can occur during periods of sustained high temperatures. Transformers, which distribute power to homes and businesses, need a period of time when they can cool down, which usually happens overnight when energy usage and temperatures drop. Heat events with sustained high overnight temperatures can put stress on transformers, causing them to fail. This is more likely to occur in areas where coastal influence normally results in lower evening temperatures, rather than in interior valleys that routinely experience extremely hot weather.

PG&E uses outage prediction models to help determine when and where potential power outage risk could be elevated and uses the latest technology to help restore power more quickly and efficiently during a heat wave. This includes automated equipment that “self-heals” the grid, as well as timely and accurate outage data from its SmartMeter network.

"PG&E is positioning crews in areas with higher potential for heat-related outages, including coastal areas that don’t normally experience sustained hot weather," Contreras said. "PG&E has troublemen, who are the company’s first responders to an outage, and electric restoration crews working across the service area ready to respond and restore power safely and as quickly as possible in an outage. Additional troublemen and crews are on standby, and PG&E will increase staffing in response to the ongoing heat wave as needed. PG&E is mobilizing necessary materials to be able to restore power safely and efficiently."