Aug 30 (Reuters) – California’s grid operator said on Tuesday excessive heat, which is forecast to rise from Aug. 31, would stress the energy grid and that consumer conservation might be needed over the weekend to avert power outages.
The California Independent System Operator (ISO) has issued Restricted Maintenance Operations (RMO) for Aug. 31 through Sept. 6 from noon to 10 p.m. each day.
“During the RMO, market participants are ordered to avoid scheduled maintenance to ensure all available generation and transmission lines are in service,” the operator said.
California residents are likely to be asked to conserve energy during this week’s anticipated heat wave, which is expected to start building Wednesday and intensify through Labor Day weekend before dying down next Wednesday.
The highest loads on the electrical grid are expected next Monday and Tuesday, according to Anne Gonzales, a senior public information officer at the California Independent System Operator, which manages the state’s power grid.
The grid is expected to be under the most strain on Monday, with a projected peak load of 48,225 megawatts, Gonzales said. Peak loads on Sunday, when temperatures in parts of the bay are most likely to reach triple digits, are also expected to reach more than 48,000 megawatts, according to Gonzales.
The energy load of a typical summer afternoon is about 30,000 megawatts, according to Severin Borenstein, faculty director of the Energy Institute at the University of California Davis Haas School of Business.
“If we’re going to hit 48,000 on a weekend, I think that’s really, really unusual,” Borenstein said.
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