California could get rotating power outages today or tomorrow

Rotating power outages could come Tuesday, Aug. 18, and Wednesday, Aug. 19, to help keep the state’s power grid from crumbling, a top official said.

The state is enduring massive air-conditioning usage during this heat wave, which puts a large strain on the system.

“This heat storm is not over, and we still expect exceedingly hot temperatures (Tuesday) and Wednesday,” Steve Berberich, the grid operator’s president, said in a statement.

No emergency order had been issued on Tuesday as of late morning.

It wasn’t clear yet if any would come – according to the state grid operator’s energy consumption tracker, peak demand predicted for later Tuesday was 49,610 megawatts. The total capacity available to the grid would be 53,671 megawatts.

On Monday, there were no widespread, rotating power outages ordered for California despite warnings from the California Independent System Operator, the nonprofit that oversees the grid. By 7:30 p.m., the System Operator had cancelled a Stage 2 Emergency issued hours earlier after energy demand was lower than officials expected.

Over the weekend, grid operators were forced to scramble to try and meet the surging energy demand as many areas of the state sweltered under triple-digit heat. In his statement, Berberich said the power managers “have been doing everything they can to find energy to cover demand during this heat wave and to keep the system balanced.”

Still, rotating blackouts occurred; they are meant to keep the whole system from collapsing and to protect equipment.

Berberich asked customers to conserve energy:  “We urge consumers to continue to help us in our mission.”