Due to high temperatures, California residents will be asked to conserve electricity during afternoons and evenings, called “Flex Alerts, through Labor Day. This is in anticipation of the possibility, that the state will suffer an energy shortage. This of course means refraining from charging electric vehicles, among other uses.
On Tuesday, is was reported by The Sacramento Bee-
“Hoping to avoid blackouts, the California Independent System Operator, which manages the state’s power grid, warned Tuesday that it probably will issue a series of Flex Alerts over the next several days. Flex Alerts are voluntary calls for conservation during the afternoon and evening hours, when energy use tends to soar. Residents will be asked to turn up their thermostats to 78 degrees or higher, avoid using dishwashers or other large appliances, and hold off on charging their electric vehicles, all during the 4-9 p.m. time frame.”…
“Already, the grid manager has issued a “restricted maintenance operations” notice starting Wednesday — a directive telling power generators and transmission line operators to delay routine maintenance that would take generating or transmission equipment offline.”
-The Sacramento Bee
And in another article, The San Francisco Chronicle explained that, according to Anne Gonzales, the California Independent System Operator -
“The grid is expected to be under the most strain on Monday, with a projected peak load of 48,225 megawatts. Peak loads on Sunday, when temperatures in parts of the Bay Area are most likely to reach triple digits, are also expected to reach more than 48,000 megawatts, according to Gonzales”…
“Because the weekend’s heat wave will align with high temperatures throughout the West, California’s ability to import power from neighboring states may be limited, according to the grid operator.”
-The San Francisco Chronicle
Supposedly, in his focus to helping fight climate change, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s effort to shift the entire passenger fleet to electric vehicles, seems to be already unraveling. To emphasize the ridiculousness of his plan, these warnings come just days after the state finalized regulations, to ban gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035. Further, in his behind the scenes scramble, Newsom and state legislators are furiously working, to save the state’s last remaining active nuclear power plant. California has been at increasing risk of electricity shortages, for the past several years.
This is due in large part to a lack of new power plants and the basic unreliability of energy from solar and wind power. With the tenuousness of the current grid abilities, under present usage, Newsome has basically developed a state platform on electric cars, that the state electric grid cannot support.
This new requirement for the energy grid, to expand its capacity by 30%, is a very ambitious goal at best, all within the next ten years, as California moves to an all-electric vehicle fleet by 2035. The question is, can they transform what they have, before the new regulations hit or will those who bought electric be forced, to be without charging power – and the first to lose favor with those who regulate the grid.
Urging Californians to “sober up” about the limitations of solar and wind power, Newsom warned in public statements there was change needed. This comment came just two years ago, during another heat wave that lead to a summer energy shortage, resulting in rolling blackouts across much of the state. Though it has improved plans for energy shortages and expanded battery capacity, California has not expanded its energy sources since then.
Since the days of Jerry Brown, when California began pressing its pursuit, of its own version of the “Green New Deal”, there have been ongoing episodes of power strains, on the current system which have necessitated, rolling blackouts and essentially power deprivation, over time, to millions statewide. Time and time again, officials have asked consumers to restrict their use of power wherever possible, even reminding parents to assist children in “remembering to turn lights off”. It is an already severely over-burdened system and Newsom knows it.
Hoping to be the standard bearer for the nation, in alternative sources of clean energy, Newsome has really missed the boat. The idea that electric cars will be welcomed onto the grid, which will have to be a scramble to rework/rebuild is ridiculous at best.
Those expensive cars will be home in the garage, with their owners forced to take mass-transit just to get to and from work, so they can make those expensive car payments. Used to spending the Peoples Republic of California’s tax dollars, perhaps Newsome again thinks he can buy his way out of this problem. What sounds good to the ears, does not always translate into reality – often with massive tax-dollars lost in the struggle to pretend it will work.
“Common sense is very uncommon”
-Horace Greeley