With Weekend’s High Heat, First of Many Challenges to Pasadena’s Power Grid

The weekend heatwave, with temperatures predicted to hit 104 degrees on Sunday, presents the first of what could be many challenges to Pasadena Water and Power’s efforts to ensure adequate, blackout-free daily power supplies as the utility copes with the fallout of a natural gas shortage.

Shari Thomas, PWP’s Interim General Manager, says the triple digit temperatures expected Sunday and early next week could complicate matters, especially if the projected rolling blackouts would occur, which she says isn’t a certainty as of yet.

In any case, Thomas believes conserving energy would be for everybody’s benefit.

“At this time, it is uncertain if the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) will issue an official Flex Alert. However, Pasadena urges residents and businesses to please conserve energy to reduce strain on the electric grid and lessen the possibility of intermittent brownouts or blackouts,” Thomas said.

A Flex Alert, according to the CAISO website, is an urgent call to cut back on electricity and shift demand to off-peak hours, typically after 9 p.m. As part of an educational and emergency alert program, Flex Alerts inform consumers about how and when to conserve electricity. This conservation is critical during heat waves and other challenging grid conditions, including wildfires or when major power plant or power lines are unavailable.

PWP last week launched an aggressive information and education campaign to prepare the public for the blackouts, after Southern California Gas decided to temporarily shut down its Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility due to a massive leak.

City officials warned the shutdown could lead to regional power supply shortages throughout Southern California.

With the coming heat wave, PWP says it is equally important to exercise energy conservation measures, including making sure air conditioners are set at the proper temperatures.

The heat wave could result in maximum temperatures reaching triple digits especially this weekend and into next week, with Monday predicted to be the hottest day in June.

PWP advises residents that air conditioners should be set at 78 degrees or higher even with the heat to make sure they don’t help strain the critical power situation.

Other energy conservation tips from PWP include:

? Wait until 6 p.m. before operating major appliances
? Turn off unnecessary lights
? Turn your water heater down to 120 or the “normal” setting when home, and to the lowest setting when away.
? Close drapes and shades on windows that receive direct sunlight.

PWP has also published tips about staying safe in the summer heat, as high temperatures could cause health risks for people and pets. Its emergency-information webpage lists a number of cooling centers in Los Angeles County, including the Pasadena Senior Center, where people could stay in the daytime if the heat becomes unbearable where they are. The tips and the list of cooling centers are on www.pwpweb.com/emergency.

The utility also encourages its customers to use its Outage Management System (OMS) where residents can report outages and at the same time received available updates on their smart phones, with an estimated time when power could be restored. To use the system, customers will need to register their mobile phone numbers through www.pwpweb.com/oms.