(Reuters) – California’s power grid operator lifted a short-lived emergency warning on Thursday in anticipation of higher-than-expected demand as homes and businesses turned on air conditioners to escape high temperatures.
The California Independent System Operator (ISO) issued a warning in the period between 7:30 pm to 10 pm PDT Thursday (0230 to 0500 GMT Friday), encouraging customers to conserve electricity during this time, but it ended at 8:30 pm because it was able to secure additional supplies.
The ISO said that “Energy Emergency Alert 1” (EEA 1) has been declared, which occurs when real-time analysis shows that all resources are bound or predicted to be used and a power failure is expected at a specified time.
As of 9 p.m., current demand stood at 38,596 megawatts, against available capacity of 45,060 MW, the ISO website showed.
Meteorologists at AccuWeather predict temperatures in Los Angeles will reach 89.6 Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) on Thursday, rising to 91.4F on Friday. That compares to a normal high of 82.4F this time of year.
The California grid operator said it does not expect to issue other warnings on Friday such as EEA 2, 3 or a “variable alert” that calls on customers to voluntarily conserve electricity when supply may not meet peak demand.
As a heat wave bakes parts of the state, Texas’ power grid has broken demand records several times in the past few weeks, but has so far avoided blackouts, while Arizona again saw power use rise to an all-time high this week.
US natural gas futures have jumped about 8% so far this week on forecasts for a warmer-than-normal early August, especially in Texas. (BY/)
(Reporting by Seher Dareen and Arpan Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Jamie Freed)
Copyright 2023 Thomson Reuters.
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