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California faces its highest chance of power outages this year as a brutal heatwave continues to blanket the state with triple-digit temperatures.
State energy officials said the power load on Tuesday could exceed 51,000 megawatts, the highest demand the state has ever seen.
The state is forecasting record levels of energy use as people turn on their air conditioners, said Elliot Mainzer, president of the California Independent System Operator, which runs the state’s grid.
Mr Mainzer said the state currently has additional energy capacity “but blackouts, rolling, rolling blackouts are possible” and called the extra protection “absolutely necessary”.
The danger of wildfires is extreme, as extreme heat and low humidity turn shrubs into tinder.
Four deaths were reported over the weekend and about 4,400 firefighters battled 14 blazes statewide, including 45 on Sunday alone, said Anale Burlew, deputy commissioner of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. start a new fire.
California’s energy network uses mostly solar and natural gas during the day, as well as some electricity imported from other states.
But solar began to drop in the late afternoon and evening, the hottest times of the day in some parts of the state.
On Monday, at the request of CAISO, four temporary emergency generators deployed by the Ministry of Water Resources started up for the first time since they were installed last year, providing up to 120 megawatts of power, enough to power 120,000 homes.
CAISO also issued a flexible alert call for voluntary protection between 4pm and 10pm on Tuesday, issuing seven alerts over several days.
Consumers are urged to keep air conditioners at 25.5 degrees Celsius or higher and avoid major appliances such as ovens and dishwashers during this time.
Those efforts have been working to keep the lights on, Mr Mainzer said, “but we’re now in the heat of a heatwave that could last for a week” and people and businesses will need two to three times the level of protection.
The National Weather Service forecast maximum temperatures in the interior of California to be between 37.7 and 46.1 degrees Celsius, with a temperature above 26.6 degrees Celsius and a low of 37.2 degrees Celsius near the coast.
Climate change has made the West warmer and drier over the past three years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive, scientists say.
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