Chris White Tech Reporter
October 26, 2019 10:35 PM ET
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom is warning citizens that they could be in for a long weekend as the state’s public utility announced Saturday plans to shut down huge sections of the electric grid.
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s move could black out an estimated 940,000 homes and businesses in parts of more than 30 counties up and down California. PG&E is trying to prevent potential wildfires from spreading through the state while keeping tabs on downed power lines.
Newsom, who is under pressure as gas prices increase, told Californians things are going to be tough for the next few days.
“The next 72 hours will be challenging,” the Democrat said at a news conference. “I could sugarcoat it, but I will not.”
The rolling blackouts could surpass those of the 750,000 customers who dealt with similar shut-offs earlier in October. Newsom started to circulate blame for many of the problems Californians are facing, including the blackouts and rising gas prices.
“These are difficult calls,” he said at Saturday’s conference. “But a society as industrious and entrepreneurial and innovative as ours should not have to face a choice between public safety and public blackouts. We can do both together. And that is what path we are on.”
Newsom also lit into PG&E. (RELATED: Gavin Newsom Stumped By High Gas Prices In California — Where Gas Taxes Outstrip The Other 49 States)
“It’s more than just climate change. It’s about the failure of capitalism to address climate change,” he told reporters Friday as he spoke about the utility’s continued use of rolling blackouts.
Newsom also leaned in on oil companies as the state faces staggering gas prices.
The Democratic governor asked his attorney general Oct. 23 to investigate oil companies for conspiring to keep gas prices artificially high. Newsom based his request on a report suggesting California drivers are paying $1 more per gallon of gasoline than the rest of the country, according to The Associated Press.
As for the blackouts, PG&E said the utility is keeping tabs on wind conditions.
“We are working vigilantly to forecast conditions, and the weather is dynamic and changing,” PG&E spokeswoman Suzanne Hosn said in a statement Saturday. “We are adjusting start times based on the weather forecast.”
Newsom’s office has not responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
California historical fact Santa Ana winds, semi arid prone to drought, naked high voltage cables suspended on rickety wooden poles, building permits issued for homes in intensley wooded areas with trees known to burn, correct forestry management ignored because of environmentalist pressure, people who want to live in wooded areas because they like the ethos. Politicians who endorse rabid environmentalism and enforce tax payer funded rhetoric that enforces belief that wind and solar farms can mitigate climate change and you have a recipe for diaster which is now being served up as a main course.
Had California spent the billions spent on wind and solar on burying electric cables wild fires would have been dramically reduced. I find it incomprehensible that not one single person in California made the inevitable connection between Santa Ana winds semi arid naked cables sparks trees and fire.
But thought wind and solar might have a mitigating effect on wind speed electric cables sparking and trees catching fire as a result. Or did they think fires could be used to enforce belief in climate change?
I watched Adam Schiff chairing a hearing on IBES it was painfully obvious he would pull any stroke to pour scorn and derision on Patrick Moore and Marc Marono he could not conceal his smile at putting the knife in. Makes you think about 911
Naked cables?
Power transmission and distribution cables exist in every place in the world, as do trees, wind, homes near trees, occasional and even frequent windy dry weather (also known as Fire Weather).
Power lines are rarely buried in the ground over wide areas, and are generally not insulated except in specific limited locations and circumstances. There are reasons for why things are done the way they are done, but economic and technical ones.
-Some of the cost differences for burying vs overhead are extreme.
-Some of the technical challenges and limitations are extreme.
-Some of the operational challenges and limitations are extreme.
– Some of the maintenance and repair issues are extreme.
These things are true in any location.
In earthquake country, or in rough terrain, potential problems are multiplied and magnified.
The entire question of overhead vs underground is one every power company and electric infrastructure project has looked at, and this has been true for nearly 150 years…the entire history of electric power generation and distribution.
If it was even a close call between one way and the other, it would likely be the case that many large area would have all electric power lines underground.
That it is currently only done in a relatively small number of places and over limited geographic extent attests to the way the pro/con assessment stacks up.
Here is a interesting read on the issue:
https://www.eei.org/issuesandpolicy/electricreliability/undergrounding/Documents/UndergroundReport.pdf
Isnt the answer , which has been implemented to a bigger extent by the electric utility around San Diego, a voltage cutoff device which activates in milliseconds when a break on the line occurs. At the moment a current will continue to flow when the line is earthed. that is what causes the fire
Thought I had made my point but I will try again. With all the billions spent on wind and solar to pretend we cant tackle climate change California could have buried the cables especiaĺly when there is such a high fire risk. Plus another 40 bilion every year to repair all of the damage caused by the fires. It is as they say a no brainer.
Salute!
The underground power lines do the most good at the distribution end of the grid. Think subdivisions.
They reduce many vulnerable lines and transformers and……
Come here to Florida to see great examples. And we have forests and vegetation and……
We also prune the trees around the high voltage lines every year before hurricane season
Gums sends…..
Isn’t this the state which has a fire season?
Yes.
This is the second widespread instance of something which will for years to come be a regular occurrence in California, unless some very major changes are made in regard to several areas of state law.
Few seem to see the long term implications of what is happening.
At least the people with solar panels can relax.
snarling Dolphin-
This from the “Third Sun Solar” website:
“Most homeowners have no source of backup power when the grid goes down. Even homes with solar may lose power in the event of a grid outage if their system does not include some form of energy storage.”
That is if their inverter is grid-tied (In the US AFAIK). Grid goes, so does power, unless you have a backup.
LOL. Good one.
Most home solar installations shut down if they’re not receiving grid power. Many of those who paid for such systems are just discovering that now.
To work around it, you generally need batteries and a controller that will disconnect from the grid when there’s no power coming in. This adds another $10-20k to the price of a decently-sized home solar system, unless you’re competent enough to build it yourself.
Snarling, probably should have added the /sarc’. Grid connected home solar is a different “animal”Without a huge expensive battery it doesn’t work. If anything home solar dumping massive current on the grid for a few hours around noon, much of which has to be re-dumped for lack of demand causes problems. shuffling around this “grid poison” stress’s electrical equipment and contributes to the potential for failure.
” Grid connected home solar is a different “animal”Without a huge expensive battery it doesn’t work”:
That’s why every “environmental conscious” citizen ought to buy a Tesla. And leave it “installed” in the household undercellar vaults.
To prepare for grid connection emergency –
The Tesla’s huge, heavy battery pack as work-around in case of brown outs incl. blackouts.
Yeah right Gov. the state has no responsibility for any of this. Californians, you built this…
California is circling the drain.
California is well on its way to Venezuelan status under the same kind of political leadership. Large and growing homeless encampments, streets littered with human excrement, crumbling infrastructure, and now loss of reliable electricity, which makes modern life possible. Meanwhile Californian lemmings, anxious to jump off any nearby cliff, continue to vote the same politicians into power, while wondering how all these problems could be happening in their once great state.
The power outages and higher prices are basically a Californian own goal and however much you yell at the ref it ain’t going to be overturned by the VAR.
If Exxon knew why didn’t PGEC know all those years ago. and prepare for these events decades ago?
heh … maybe they should put a mentally unstable 16 year old in charge of energy production …
There is an old joke about California. Many years ago the country tipped up and everything that was loose rolled into California. And of course that old favorite that California is the land of fruits and nuts. And of course how many Californians does it take to change a light bulb? They have no electricity. Why would they ever need to change a light bulb? Or, two Californians, one to change the light bulb and the other to pedal the bicycle that runs the generator. (I really do like California. But man they are looney tunes out there.)
“…It’s more than just climate change. It’s about the failure of capitalism to address climate change…”
Try again, the capitalist USA has been reducing CO2 emissions; Communist China has the largest CO2 emissions and continues to increase emissions.
Newsome declares: “We can do both public safety and public blackouts”. What an idiot.
It is too bad that the gov wouldn’t understand if someone sent him a mirror.
If utilities and fossil fuel companies are to blame for this, just boot them out of the state. Problem fixed. And you can congratulate yourself for solving the global warming problem too.
Unfortunately, the industriosnous has been directed at consumers for years by Dems and their advocacy armies of policy distortion. Now the combined effects of intended consequences are piling up.
Capitalism isn’t failing. It’s being strangled to death. Maybe that’s why California is such a blue state. Cyanosis!
It seems ironic that a state which loves wind turbines so much should shut down the electricity because the wind is blowing.
Neat.
My understanding is that California, under Jerry Brown, from 1978, pursued a policy influenced by Amory Lovins. Up until 5 years ago Lovins was regarded as the most influential thought leader with the renewable/sustainable energy crowd. His ‘Soft Energy Paths’ essay was supposed to be some kind of bible.
For electricity, he advocated
* small scale generation
* mixed generation of renewables and fossil fuel
* decentralized, widely distributed grid
* no nuclear power
Very in much in the ‘Small is Beautiful‘ school of hippy idealism.
Consequently by the late 1990s, California had a deficit in electricity; importing vast amounts of electricity from North and East. It was all very market driven so Enron and others exploited it. The whole thing crashed in the early noughties with Enron bankrupt in 2001. It was then regulated to hell. Recently California upped its renewables mandate to 50% by 2030.
The fires are a different issue; with PG&E required to keep a very big grid going without any control over surrounding vegetation. Basic weed-killers banned, etc.
Perhaps there’s merit to nationalization after all? If politicians are going to regulate you to hell so that you can’t control your business, wouldn’t it be better to put them in charge – to teach them a lesson. On reflection, that’s just too cruel to the put upon customers.
This is exactly why the voters recalled Gray(out) Davis. It’s high time for it to happen to Governor Newsom, and I would like to join or start such a petition effort.
https://recallnewsom.us/
Already happening
Leftist marxist pigs all. I have zero sympathy for any of them. Now the others living there that are not leftists? I have pity.
“…to investigate oil companies for conspiring to keep gas prices artificially high. ….’It’s more than just climate change. It’s about the failure of capitalism to address climate change,’…Newsom started to circulate blame for many of the problems Californians are facing, …”
Will the real conspiracy theorists please stand up?
This is what happens when you continually vote Democrats into office. How to solve the problem ? It won’t be solved because the clowns of California will continue to vote in more of the same but expect different results. I hope Gavin’s vineyard gets burnt to the ground so that he suffers like the rest of Californians have to because of his ‘leadership’.
I thought high fuel prices were good, because they encouraged people to stop producing CO2? So how can they now be complaining that oil companies are pushing up prices? Shouldn’t they be complaining that oil companies aren’t pushing up prices enough?
California needs $20-a-gallon gas to save the world.
That’s exactly what they were saying soon after Obama won the presidency. Fuel prices will necessarily sky rocket. 97% of scientists agreed.
There’s just something ironic about PCers, who buy into green energy, vote for socialist politicos, and buy electric cars – now buying gas generators to charge their electric car batteries. I imagine they won’t see the connection
They won’t get it, they will never get it, they’re brain washed
“But a society as industrious and entrepreneurial and innovative as ours should not have to face a choice between public safety and public blackouts. We can do both together.”
Really? He said that? So they can have both public safety AND public blackouts?
Not only does he want to do both, but “that is what path we are on”. so having safe public blackouts is the goal rather than being safe without blackouts.