California ISO declares Energy Emergency Alert 3 however evening goes by with no rotating outages
Update 9:00 p.m.
The Flex alert has expired. The alert went through the evening without forcing rotating outages to residents across the state.
At 8 p.m., the grid operator ended its Energy Emergency Alert (EEA) 3 with no load sheds for the night. Consumer conservation played a big part in protecting electric grid reliability. Thank you, California!
— California ISO (@California_ISO) September 7, 2022
A flex alert will once again be in effect on Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
UPDATE 5:50 PM
California ISO declares an Energy Emergency Alert 3 with rotating power outages very possible across the state, officials announced.
The California Independent System Operator (ISO) has alerted residents across the state to be ready for possible rotating power outages throughout Tuesday evening.
This comes amid a heat wave with many parts of Southern California having temperatures above 100 degrees.
ISO officials said that if outages are initiated, consumers should receive notifications from their power providers on areas affected and time duration.
Consumers are encouraged to check their utility websites for outage maps and preparation tips:
- Southern California Edison
- PG&E
- SDG&E
The ISO declared an Energy Emergency Alert (EEA) 2 for 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday.
Officials said this signals to participants to bid more energy into the market and allows the ISO to tap into emergency demand response programs that provide financial incentives for reducing energy use.
The ISO is expected to declare an EEA 3 around 5:30 p.m., one step away from ordering rotating power outages.
Officials said that on Tuesday, electricity demand is currently forecast at more than 52,000 megawatts (MW), a new historic all-time high for the grid. As the state faces the hottest day in this prolonged, record-breaking heat wave, grid conditions are expected to worsen.
If needed, ISO could order utilities to begin rotating power outages to maintain stability of the electric grid. If that occurs, consumers should expect communications – either phone, text or email – from their utilities notifying them of outage areas and likely durations.
On Monday evening, an emergency declaration pulled additional resources onto the system at a time when the grid was dipping into reserves and there was risk of further emergency action, including power outages. Peak demand was 49,020 megawatts (MW), but consumer conservation, imports, and emergency resources fended off outages.
Consumer and commercial demand response, including Flex Alerts, has been helping to extend sparse supplies at critical hours so far this week, giving operators extra cushion in supplies. Yesterday, demand response conservation was scheduled to save about 2,000 MW of power when it was most needed.
Emergency assistance added another approximate 800 MW of power on the system. This amount of energy was able to help tide the system over during the evening.
Rotating power outages, or small-scale, contained, controlled interruptions in power, can help maintain reliability and avoid cascading blackouts. When the ISO determines that supplies are not sufficient to meet demand, it can issue an EEA 3, and then if reserves are exhausted, it would order utilities to begin outages to bring demand back in line with available supplies.
For two days in August 2020, planned outages affecting about 800,000 homes and businesses lasted anywhere from 15 minutes to about 2 ½ hours, marking the first time outages were ordered in California due to insufficient supplies in nearly 20 years.
Rotating power outages are called to protect the reliability of the California ISO’s grid and in neighboring balancing authorities. Reducing demand to match supply maintains grid reliability and ensures the system doesn’t collapse into uncontrolled, unplanned power failures, possibly across the West.
Consumers and businesses can protect grid reliability by doing their part to lower electricity use during tonight’s Flex Alert from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Consumers are encouraged to pre-cool their homes today by setting thermostats as low as 72 degrees, and cooking, doing laundry, and running dishwashers earlier in the day. From 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., consumers are urged to set thermostats to 78 degrees, avoid use of major appliances, and turn out unnecessary lights.
