California is a state that has had problems with extreme hot summers that have led to electric utilities initiating rolling blackouts. Although the last blackout was in 2001, California continues with the problem.

The blackouts are an attempt to try to conserve energy because residents are using more power to contend with the triple digit temperatures that have hit much of the state.

The heat wave is expected to hover over the state into the middle of this week. Temperatures in the range of 110°F is predicted for some regions of the Golden State.

The overabundance use of power is due to residents cranking up their air conditioners and fans to get relief from the heat. The severe increase in use has strained the power grid.

The latest problem began at 6:30 p.m. Friday, August 15^th when the California grid operator discovered the state’s reserve power had dropped to below critical threshold. This resulted in a Stage 3 Grid Emergency due to a “load interruption.” The last time this occurred was during the 2000 and 2001 electricity crisis. At the time, the state electric utilities initiated rolling blackouts that cut power to thousands of homes and businesses. The emergency caused power prices to spike to all-time records and California’s largest utility was plunged into bankruptcy.

The state called for the utilities to cut power by about 1,000 megawatts. That’s nearly enough to power about 750,000 homes, according to the California ISO. More than 2 million people were affected based on the average household size.

The shared blackout couldn’t have happened at a worst time as the state battles the COVID-19 Pandemic with many people staying home to prevent getting sick.

This is not the first time since 2001 that the state’s utilities have had to perform rolling blackouts. Less than a year ago, California utilities intentionally cut off power to millions of residents in an attempt to prevent wildfires caused by power lines blowing down due to extremely strong winds.

Torrid Heat Worldwide

The severe heat is not limited to the United States. Areas around the world are battling these extreme conditions. What was forecast as one of the worst heat waves in more than a Century shrouded sections of Europe in August. The eastern U.S. was gripped by extreme heat in July that set records in Manhattan and Boston that go back to the 19^th Century.

California Power Gas & Electric Corp. initiated most of the shutdowns. PG&E is the state’s biggest utility. They claimed that as many as 250,000 customers were plunged into darkness during the rolling outages. A spokesman for the company said that power was fully restored by 11 p.m. on Friday. The spokesman apologized for not notifying customers in advance. The outage lasted for an hour to an hour and a half on a rotating basis in the utility’s Northern and Central California service zone.

Southern California Edison began blackouts to customers at around 7 p.m.. As many as 132,000 customers were without power as of 7:45 p.m. San Diego Gas & Electric was shutting down along a wide span of San Diego and Southern Orange Counties.

Residents of the Bay area experienced sizzling hot temperatures of 95°F and residents in San Jose suffered through temperatures of about 103°F.

The National Weather Service predicted that the extreme temperatures would last through Wednesday, August 19^th.

Grid operators will be monitoring the situation throughout this week. The worst of the outages, if they do occur, will be during business hours on weekdays

Meanwhile 13 wildfires raged across California. Firemen suffered catastrophic conditions due to the heat.

Be Prepared

Owning a standby generator that can provide electricity to your home in case of a blackout is not only a concern during hurricanes, floods, snowstorms, and extreme cold or heat. It has become a national security necessity.

Today’s generators include technologies like Wi-Fi, for easy and remote control from wherever you are on Earth.

Having a generator will ensure that a power outage won’t spoil food or medications that need to be refrigerated. A generator can also prevent frozen or damaged pipes that could result in major problems that you may not be able to fix until spring.

Visit the website of AP Electric of Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin for a review of some of the best-known brands of generators including Cummins, Westinghouse, Kohler, Briggs & Stratton, Generac, Firman, and Guardian.  The website also includes a generator sizing calculator and offers information on how to select the proper generator for your situation.