Marinscope
Last week was do or die for Marin’s power grid. We almost died.
Record breaking temperatures throughout California burdened the grid as authorities warned citizens to do what it takes to stay safe and cool.
Residents in the Marin Highlands and Indian Valley suffered through at least four power outages in the last 90 days.
One resident there said on social media that “it’s making me think of purchasing a generator.”
The Sheriff’s Department warned people looking for cooler weather at the beach that “if you are not already at Stinson Beach, we’d suggest not going.” The department reported long delays in traffic and congested parking lots, and temperatures in the mid the mid 90s.
California teetered on the edge of rolling blackouts during the heat spell that Gov. Gavin Newsom described as “the hottest and the longest on record for this state and many parts of the West for the month of September.”
Downtown Sacramento reached 116 degrees, surpassing the previous record of 114 degrees set in 1925. San Rafael got up to 111, breaking the record high of 109 set in 1958. Kentfield posted 106, Mill Valley 103 and Novato reached 113.
In addition to Newsom begging Californians to conserve energy, the governor extended for the third time provisions of his earlier emergency proclamation and executive order to free up additional power, increase energy production and expand flexibility for state agencies, energy users and utilities.
The efforts to keep the lights on did not go unnoticed by the governor’s political opponents. Republican lawmakers tied the looming threat of blackouts to “a failed energy policy.”
Assembly GOP Leader James Gallagher of Yuba City said: “It’s rich to watch (Democrats) now scramble to keep the lights on by firing up brand-new natural gas plants and extending the life of California’s only remaining nuclear power plant, which they previously advocated for closing,” He added: “This crisis was both avoidable and predictable.”
The power crisis began to ease on Wednesday, Sept. 7, when temperatures dipped slightly. Conditions were dire enough, however, for the California Independent System Operator to declare a Stage 2 energy emergency. In all, Californians spend their ninth straight day under a Flex Alert asking them to conserve energy between 3 and 10 p.m.)
Gov. Newsom’s administration sent emergency text messages to 27 million Californians around 5:50 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 6, urging them to conserve energy and it had an immediate impact. Demand fell by about 2,000 megawatts within 20 to 30 minutes, bringing the state back from the brink of outages.
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