California's deliberate power outage - Sampling the future

From Vox:

California’s deliberate blackouts were outrageous and harmful. They’re going to happen again.

To avoid sparking wildfires during dry, windy weather conditions, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), the state’s largest utility, shut off electrical service to some 738,000 customer accounts, representing up to 2 million people. It was a planned, deliberate blackout unprecedented in the history of the nation’s electrical system.

... Residents had little warning, in some cases less than 24 hours. Nursing homes, emergency rooms, police stations, and fire stations scrambled for backup generators. People with powered medical equipment or refrigerated drugs scrambled to find care at understaffed community centers, and 1,370 public schools lost power; 400 of them sent 135,000 students home to parents scrambling to cover jobs they had no way to get to.

Highways, roads, and intersections went dark without notice and caused traffic accidents. Food rotted in freezers, houses, and grocery stores. Government phone lines were overwhelmed. On top of everything else, PG&E’s website went down.

As Elizaveta Malashenko of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) put it to the New York Times: “It’s pretty much safe in saying, this did not go well.”

The Los Angeles Times evaluates how it went:

What will the next heavy winds bring? Assessing the great power shut-off of 2019

The biggest failure, experts and customers alike said, was communication. Residents complained they did not receive adequate notice of the shutdown or no notice at all and could not get on the utilities’ websites.
…
Some experts said utilities should not have unilateral power for deciding when to shut off power. Utilities have “too much incentive” to cut power because they bear full liability if their equipment sparks a blaze, (Severin) Borenstein said.

During a shutdown, the risk shifts. “We bear the cost,” he said.

He said the state should create some sort of committee that includes public safety officials, elected officials, utilities and the Public Utilities Commission to make power shut-off calls in the future.
…
lawmakers hope to introduce legislation early next year to address several problems related to shut-offs. It could include setting criteria that utilities must meet before flipping off the lights and requiring companies to develop accurate lists of medically fragile patients.
…
Rooftop solar panels paired with batteries are one of the most straightforward strategies for coping with a future of fire-driven power outages, experts said. But they noted that investor-owned utilities such as Edison and PG&E don’t have much motivation to push solar-plus-storage as a solution for their customers.

For-profit electric utilities have traditionally seen “behind-the-meter” solar panels as a threat to their bottom line, and have fought to limit financial incentive programs for rooftop systems, arguing that those incentives harm customers unable to afford solar power.

“The utilities will oppose accelerating the deployment of behind-the-meter solar and batteries, even in areas that are subject to the shut-offs, because it’s just so diametrically opposed to their business model,” said Bill Powers, a San Diego electrical engineering consultant and consumer advocate.

And a bit of snark:

PG&E, Newsom and lawmakers had months to plan for a power outage. They didn’t plan enough

Several utility executives and political leaders seemed shocked, shocked to find that when electricity is shut off, traffic lights go dark and drivers smash their cars. Garage doors won’t open. Food rots in refrigerators. Phones die. Air conditioners don’t cool. Batteries can’t be recharged for power scooters relied on by disabled people. The aged become especially vulnerable.

Fortune highlights a few challenges to small businesses:

PG&E Says Power Outages Aren’t Going Away, Leaving California Businesses to Confront an Uncertain Future

Perishables, security, appropriate stock of high demand items, wireless service for charge card processing....

Paying employees for hours not open?

Grocery outlets

How California grocery stores are handling the power outages

-Invest in or rent generators or refrigerated trucks
-Shut down and take a straight loss
-Discount perishables and hope for future customer goodwill
-Dry ice
-Donate to charity food distributors

How long was the power off? Food in a closed freezer easily last 24 hrs, probably more.

>5 reading_fox: Two or three days in some cases.

But they didn’t know how long the power would be out.

At our NorCal home, we have a standalone power system. Our county electricity distribution network (PG&E) suffers local outages during or after rain storms, such as when power poles fall over in waterlogged ground, or redwood tree versus power pole, etc. When we self-evacuated 2 years ago during a regional wildfire that touched the southeast edge of Mendocino county and then went further east (inland) from there, driving thru small towns as we looked for still-open freeways was complicated by most stores being closed due to lack of electric power. Luckily, the liquor store where we buy the NYTimes newspaper was open and they gave us freeway update information that had just arrived with the guys who showed up at their store with that day's copies of regional newspapers as well as info on what freeways had just opened ...it turns out that at that store, they have their own generator, so they had electrical power.

In our NorCal kitchen, there is an electrically powered refrigerator, which was present there when we bought that house. That old refrigerator is now starting to be unreliable, and I don't want to buy a natural gas-powered refrigerator (which would be *much* quieter), because of carbon footprint problems with natural gas. We have several backup coolers on hand, the best being the box-shaped Yeti brand cooler, which is heavy to lift even when empty, but it does keep ice frozen 2-3 times longer than any other cooler. For a replacement, we will buy the electric refrigerator that has the best Energy Star rating, and get an insulation mat (rubber or felt) to lay over its top and sides; usually the top-freezer models have the best energy ratings.

In Southern California, the October 2019 electric power cutoffs by our local utility company here, Southern California Edison (SCE), had problems created by that somewhat sudden SCE electric power cutoff. Leading into that episode, our biggest heroes have been the high-quality NOAA National Weather Service forecasts, which are the backbone of all other online and TV weather forecast data across the USA. SoCal has weather that is very difficult to forecast, partly because we are on the edge of the Earth's biggest ocean, the Pacific. In recent years, the quality of our weather forecasts finally improved after (1) TV stations installed high-powered Doppler radar systems which give more details about weather systems approaching our shores from the Pacific ocean or from the northern Pacific coast; and (2) US weather satellites in orbit now do a much better job of looking ahead at our incoming weather. Our super-dry wind storms most often occur during the summer and fall months; those winds are called Diablo winds in NorCal, and Santa Ana winds in SoCal, except in Santa Barbara county, northwest of Los Angeles and Ventura counties ... in Santa Barbara county the term is "sundowner winds." Super-dry winds are those whose humidity levels drop to the teens, or occasionally the single digits; on the one day that SoCal relative humidity of our air dropped to 2%, I could not walk past the kitchen water dispenser without stopping to pour out a cup of water to drink right then. According to local TV news and newspapers in this last week, our most recent Saddleridge fire in the Porter Ranch subdivision in the foothills of northern Los Angeles county may have been started by SCE electricity transmission towers ... time will tell. Because of the chronic earthquake risk in SoCal, local government buildings and especially all hospitals have backup generator systems that work well, coming online one second after the utility-supplied electricity fails. That way, surgeons can finish surgery, stuff like that.

Thanks for the above news updates on the consequences of SoCal electricity interruption. Not all families had prepared for electricity outages, so local governments are finding ways to work more closely with SCE to notify more families and businesses ahead of time. Our local farmers markets don't use electricity anyway, so we could rely on buying more fresh produce there as needed.

For grocery shopping during power outages, I shop at our local small market, buying vulnerable foods that they would otherwise have to toss out in the next 24 hours. We have an old postal service building that has windows, so even if the lights are off, they can still serve customers, selling stamps as long as there's enough small bills and coins to make change.

Due to statewide earthquake risks, homes with garages have started converting to more garage doors which can be manually operated independently of electric power as needed. In SoCal, we now have a green power option in the SCE electrical power that we use. Slowly, the SCE business model is becoming less dominant.

Throughout California, when we are driving and notice that power outages have begun, we slow down and try to go home as directly as possible. If we hear ahead of time that power is out and traffic signals are affected, we delay travel, rescheduling any appointments if that is needed. It's the new normal. We will continue to keep our landline phone, since cellphone service can be unreliable during a widespread electric power outage.

Half a decade ago, WV had an unusual widespread high-wind storm front come through in early July. Power company forecast a ten day wait for power resumption. Daughter and her family had just used their food stamps to fill their refrigerator and freezer for the month. Luckily, they were able to fill their gas tank, load their kids and coolers and drive to relatives in KY where we proceeded to cook and consume all the foods.

What could have been a miserable week was turned into a celebration; but only because the cards fell the right way.

>4 2wonderY: Speaking as someone who's been in the supermarket biz for 35 years, I can safely say that a prolonged power outage is a stores biggest fear, and a widespread one even more so. Like the article stated, stores (at least the bigger ones) will have backup generation for some lights, registers, and some other systems, refrigeration will not be on that list.

FOr something really widespread, refrigeration trucks will be in short supply. While it may look like there are a lot of them around when you're on the road, one truck can be carrying the loads for several stores, and each store is going to need at least two, if not more depending on their volume. And getting temporary generators will be even diceyer. There's going to be only so many of those around.

One of these days when we have electricians in at night doing some work I'm going to have to ask about my stores backup possibilities. The room where ours is also has a lot of empty space. I've often wondered if there's room enough to install enough backup to keep everything running.

California power lines spark wildfires and prompt blackouts. Why not just bury them?

Experts say the answer is simple: money.

"It's very, very expensive," said Severin Borenstein, a UC Berkeley professor of business administration and public policy who specializes in energy. Borenstein was speaking through the crackly static of a cellphone outside his darkened home in the San Francisco suburb of Orinda on Thursday evening. The Berkeley campus was shut down and his home had lost power, too, after PG&E instituted a mandatory "de-energization" across nearly 40 counties due to high fire threats.

It costs about $3 million per mile to convert underground electric distribution lines from overhead, while the cost to build a mile of new overhead line is less than a third of that, at approximately $800,000 per mile, according to a section on PG&E's website called Facts About Undergrounding Power Lines.
…
At a cost of $3 million per mile, undergrounding 81,000 miles of distribution lines would cost $243 billion. PG&E has 16 million customers; distributing that expense equally would amount to a bill of more than $15,000 per account.

Speaking as one living through a power outage at the moment. Let me clarify. I did not have power during the outage of October 9-10th, but I do currently have power during this outage. My friend who lives across town does not.

I don't understand the people who say there was no warning. I don't watch the news, but PG&E called my workplace and everyone's cell phone who worked with me, as well as my home, to warn us in advance. Two days before, I think. Most people I have spoken with (customers, friends, coworkers) were in denial that it would happen and therefore took minimal to no steps to prepare. We are used to the power going down for 2-3 days during severe weather. When I say used to it, I don't mean that it happens with every storm, but it has happened at least 3-5 times during the 30 years I've managed my own home. In my mind, that is enough to cause me to be aware that electricity is not a given. Someone works to make that happen. Someone invests in a business, employs workers, etc. They charge me for the privilege of using their electricity. If I was not okay with that, I would need to do something to change it. My brother did. He has installed a robust solar system with batteries and has no purchased electricity.

Personally, I don't get the outrage. This is a company who cannot win. If they don't turn the power off, they are blamed for starting the wild firestorms we have been having. Actually, I think the power was off when the latest one started and the company is still blamed. Probably their equipment is outdated. Probably it needs to be overhauled. As noted above, the cost of that will be distributed to the customers who purchase from the company. Our power bills are already enormous. I have no idea how to solve all of this, but I still feel that it is my responsibility to become less dependent on purchased power.

That being said, I live in a small town. Rather rural, in Northern California. Most of us are used to coping. I do not own a generator, but I don't suffer when the power goes out. Inconvenienced, yes. Suffer, no. I have no medical conditions that require power. What the long-term effects of this will be I don't know, because I can see how people in major cities would be lost. Also what it does to businesses will only appear down the road.

My place of work (a car dealership) closed its doors during the outage because our phones and computers didn't work. Most phones are now run on electricity rather than landlines, which also causes a problem. So for 2 days, workers who didn't have any sort of paid leave left, didn't get paid. That hurts. The business didn't get money, either.

At my home, the night before the outage, I took everything I had in my two refrigerator-freezer units and packed it tight into one. Then I taped the door closed to remove temptation. I also cooked some of the smaller items which I didn't think would keep frozen. I filled containers with water. My husband checked all the flashlights and fixed their batteries, putting our battery supply where it could easily be found. I made sure our electrical devices (phones, tablets, Kindles) were all charged and put them on power-saving mode. We also have a charging unit in our car, so I made sure that was full. I made a pot of coffee and put it in the thermos.

We lost power about 12:30 am. My boss told me not to come to work in the morning. I showered by candlelight. Where I live, we are on the city water and they must have generators, because we had water. I also have a gas hot water heater, so we had hot water. We ate leftovers from the refrigerator for 2 days, eating the things we were most concerned about going bad first. I did not worry about the eggs, my fermented salsas and krauts, the cheese. I read my books for the 2 days because although technically I could use a broom and dust cloth to catch up on cleaning, I told myself that I couldn't really see the dirt, so why? I'm good at finding excuses not to clean. We still had cell service on 4G through Verizon. Some of my friends did not because their cell companies were not working.

When the power came back on the second day at about 9:30 pm, it was too late to do anything but go to bed. By the way, reading by candlelight is not easy, but going to bed when it got too dark (about 7) was a horrible thought.

I checked the freezer and my meat was still frozen solid, but the frozen fruit I had in there had started to thaw. So Friday I went to work and on the weekend I worked like a maniac processing all the fruit into jams, chutneys, wines and such. I just finished cooking all the meat that had been in there before this most recent outage, to be sure. I also used up all the eggs and cheese that weekend, and have managed to use up everything except the fermented items since that first outage, to be safe. Also cleaned both refrigerators, which is nice. We have not restocked anything.

For the most recent outage, we put gas in both cars and got about $200 of cash. Did some food prep and shopping and sat back and waited. Oh, I also purchased a small sterno burner from Amazon so I would have a way to heat water for coffee or a pan of soup, or fry an egg.

>12 MrsLee: Someone invests in a business, employs workers, etc. They charge me for the privilege of using their electricity.

That's an interesting viewpoint. I grew up in UK assuming that electricity is one of the basic services which the government provide to the nation, along with water, sewage, mains gas, a national health service, firefighters, etc. It is paid for by a mixture of taxes and point of sales costs, eg we had to pay for our electricity usage but a lot of the infrastructure was paid for from tax revenue. Unfortunately the trend towards privatisation in the UK has changed all of that. But I would certainly not view it as being "privilieged" to be using "their" electricity. And I say that as someone who now lives off grid in a country where many people don't have electricity or running water - I have solar power and harvest rainwater.

>12 MrsLee: No! Don't read by candlelight!

Get yourself a couple of these and stick one in a vase to set behind your shoulder.



Set it outside on the deck during the day to recharge. They cost about $6 at Lowes. I've used on at the cabin for 8 years or so.

I was asked to add my thoughts as I am also affected by the shutdowns.

What is frustrating for me is that I am on the very edge of a grid, so my neighbors across the street have power and I do not. I just don't understand how they make the decisions about which grids get shut off. It's a patchwork here in my county and it's very confusing.

The last shutdown was only about 2 days for me, which is not that big a deal. If you leave your freezer shut, 48 hours really doesn't ruin your food. The fridge is a little different, tho, I did throw some stuff out.

This time they cut the power on Saturday and they now are saying they MIGHT turn it back on today and also that they MIGHT turn it off again tomorrow until Thursday or Friday.

As for communication, my electric is billed to my landlord so I personally don't get ANY direct communication from PG&E. I rely on their website, which often crashes.

We have a couple of solar chargers that work well for the phones and iPads. Luckily, my workplace has not been subject to the shutdowns so I have been charging my devices there. I also have a gas stove and water heater, thanks be to the Goddess. As long as my Kindle has a charge, I'm fine.

Unlike MrsLee, I AM frustrated with PG&E because they have chosen not to upgrade the grid and would rather give out big bonuses. I don't care if it's expensive to put the grid underground, it needs to be done and it should have been begun decades ago. They saw this coming and decided not to act.

Also, PG&E is so mismanaged that they are now in bankruptcy, but this is not enough for the state to take them over. I don't understand the thinking that anything labeled "capitalism," no matter how badly managed, is better than something labeled "socialism." The USA has its head up its ass.

blackouts reveal health care’s fragile power system

… do you keep your refrigerator full of vaccines running, or do you keep the community’s electronic health care records online? Your backup generator can’t do both.
...
Winters Healthcare chose to use enough lights so that people could see and run the generator to keep the electronic health records accessible, Winters Healthcare executive director Christopher Kelsch told The Verge. It decided to close the dental clinic, and it sent its vaccines to a sister clinic that wasn’t expected to lose power.
…
Many generators also have a lag time before they kick in, and the few seconds equipment goes down can trigger a long reboot, which might put patients at risk if they’re dependent on a constantly running machine, Porteous says. Power fluctuations might also cause damage to sensitive equipment. Deciding which areas of the hospital get power can be agonizing. Usually, the surgery and intensive care units are powered first. But that leaves other areas of the facility in the dark, which can be dangerous for patients — maybe because drugs might be kept in electronically locked dispensing units, maybe because fridges storing insulin don’t stay cold when the power’s cut, or, more mundanely, maybe because patients are more likely to stumble in the dark.
…
John Muir Health, a network of hospitals and health clinics near San Francisco, California, for example, had to scramble during the outage to move vaccines and medications from facilities that would lose power, communicate with patients, and reschedule appointments.

In addition, if power is off in a community, people who rely on electricity at home to maintain their health — like people on ventilators — may turn to hospitals, which can be overwhelmed by the influx. “A classic example is if a nursing home writes a hospital into their disaster plan and doesn’t tell the hospital,”
…
(Grete) Porteous, who directs the anesthesiology residency program at Virginia Mason, runs simulations with residents that ask them to think about the best way to deliver care during a power outage. But most US doctors don’t train for that scenario. “In other parts of the world, power could go out multiple times a day,” she says. “That mindset is the opposite of medical care in the US.”

>16 2wonderY: Along that line, my boss's mom is in a nursing care facility. They have a generator, but not for keeping the lights on. The elderly, many senile residents are terrified because of the change and the facility was in no way trained or equipped to help them. My boss said many family members brought in glow light sticks, lanterns and flashlights to help.

So many ramifications that people can't realize ahead of time. For instance, although we had power at work yesterday, we couldn't get payment for a job because the company used an internet server which was down due to the power outage.

My son and his wife, in Vallejo have power, but they have no internet, cable or wifi service. They only have their cell phones, and cable TV. There was a huge fire in Vallejo that they knew nothing about until her mother called to see if they were okay. If nothing else, I think this is a good eye-opener to diversify. Just as we should not have all of our money in one source, so we should have several different ways of getting power, phone service, news, etc.

Yes, communications seems to be a critical piece of the puzzle. I spoke to a lady yesterday who was purchasing batteries for her radio. Radio might again become an essential way to get news. I still have an old boombox in KY, but I sure haven't checked the batteries in a decade. Where do you even buy a battery powered radio nowadays?

>18 2wonderY: I think I've seen solar powered or hand crank radios. I have a hand crank (squeeze) powered flashlight, and let me tell you, that it is all but impossible for elderly arthritic hands.

>14 2wonderY: I'm getting something similar soon.

Lol, friend of mine said the scariest Halloween costume so far tonight was a child dressed as an electric meter. Mother said, "This is PG&E, we are shutting off your power!"

>20 MrsLee: Ha! That's cleverly scary. I grew up in a town north of Pittsburgh bracketed by two coal power plants. The high school sports teams are still the Dynamos, and their mascot used to be Reddy Kilowatt.



Here's a thoughtful piece detailing a possible restructuring of the electric system to encourage better decisions -

The radical reform necessary to prepare California’s power system for the 21st century

An opinion piece in the NYT today. First a recognition of how little California's reality impinges on the rest of us. Then a practical conclusion.

Living With the Kincade Fire

But what is the new normal in California has little in common with the reality of many of our everyday lives. And so we go on. We think of friends and relatives, maybe send a text to touch base with them. Then refill our coffee cups. Read our email. Click through to the next article.
…
Lessons have been learned. From the Tubbs fire in 2017. From Paradise. People respond quickly to evacuation orders, which in turn means firefighters can focus resources on containment instead of rescue.

>22 2wonderY: That is the way of it everywhere. Disasters in other parts of the world which have no direct impact on our own lives leave only a momentary impression. I don't necessarily think that is a bad thing. It is how we protect ourselves. Our psyches would be a mess if we couldn't do that. We grieve, we move on. In the days before world-wide instant media coverage, people didn't know about far away disasters until it was too late for them to be involved. They learned about it as history.

For us in California, wildfires and earthquakes are always in the back of our minds. In other places it is tornados, hurricanes, floods, volcanos, etc. The fact is, crap happens and we can only try to be prepared for the most likely crap. :)

Pull out the generators, the candles, the lanterns. Make sure you have your gasoline/propane/other fuel/batteries. Fill the car with gas. Arrange daycare for schoolchildren. Make sure you have cash for purchases, and paper and pen for receipts. Eat all the ice cream!

Power outages, again? 750K people in Northern California could be left in the dark this week, PG&E warns

Power outages could last from Wednesday morning to Thursday evening, Pacific Gas & Electric said, affecting customers in the Sierra Foothills and greater San Francisco Bay Area.
…
Residents in 25 counties may lose power this time, PG&E said in a Monday news release.

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

PG&E shrinks predicted outages; parts of North Bay will still see blackouts

At the Moraga Royale, an assisted living facility for about 90 residents in suburban Contra Costa County, staff members had spent Tuesday preparing for a shut-off — though by the afternoon it appeared to have been canceled.

If the power were to go out, “we have extra staff to roam the halls, making sure everyone is secure,” said Dianne Wilson, executive director. The facility had already experienced an outage in October. “The caregivers wear headlamps at night and other big lights around their necks.”

Staffers had worked to make sure residents have enough oxygen tanks, and used an on-site machine to make ice to pack into coolers for food storage. The facility has a generator that powers a refrigerator storing medicine, as well as some hallway lights and an elevator, but many rooms and machines would still lack power in a shut-off.

During the last outage, residents gathered at night in the central living room around a gas-lit fireplace and sang old-time songs and had s’mores, she said.
------------------
For people living paycheck to paycheck, losing a refrigerator’s worth of food during a power outage can have a huge impact, said Sara Olsher, a spokeswoman for the Redwood Empire Food Bank in Santa Rosa, the largest hunger relief organization for Sonoma County and coastal Northern California stretching to the Oregon border.

“The power shut-off was the real emergency, rather than the fire, for many people,” she said. Hourly employees at businesses that lost power were not able to work and lost several days’ pay, she said.

During and after October’s prolonged outage, some 25,000 additional people on top of the regular clientele of 14,000 a week visited the organization’s emergency distribution centers, where the food bank handed out less perishable foods such as canned tuna and chicken, peanut butter, bread, cereal and other items that didn’t need cooking.

The recipients “included a lot of people who had never been to a food bank before,” Olsher said.