A man seeks relief during a heat wave with a garden hose shower, summer of 2011.
Source – Instant Vantage, CC SA 2.0.
Demand for power is expected to approach record levels, and the state’s power grid operator is calling for greater conservation efforts.
Beginning today, energy demand is expected to outpace supply based on predictions for Tuesday showing the state rivaling its all-time high for electricity demand, said Elliot Mainzer, president, and chief executive officer of the California Independent System Operator.
“This is about to get significantly more intense,” Mainzer told reporters. “We are facing a load forecast of 48,817 megawatts and energy deficits between 2,000 and 4,000 megawatts for Monday, resulting in the highest likelihood of rotating outages we have seen so far this summer.
The state’s grid operator extended the call for conservation to between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Monday. Officials said the extra hour of conservation is due to “projected market deficiencies through 10 p.m.”
Actually, this is the sixth day that California residents are being called on to conserve electricity. It’s the latest call for a Flex Alert as California grapples with historic levels of heat, which are expected for the next several days along, according to Local ABC10.
Wildfires continue to rage as heatwave gets worse
Two wildfires burning in Northern California’s Siskiyou County, near the Oregon border, have destroyed more than 100 homes and affected thousands of people, as a dangerous heatwave roasts the U.S. West.
Siskiyou County Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue said at a Sunday meeting in a school near the fire-ravaged Weed that two people had died in the Mill Fire that tore through the rural Northern California community.
According to Cal Fire, as of September 4, the Mill Fire has burned 4,254 acres and was 40 percent contained.
The county’s other blaze, the Mountain Fire, has destroyed nearly 9,000 acres and was 10 percent contained.
The heat wave is forecast to become more intense on Labor Day through midweek in California in particular, with highs in the 110s possible in the Central Valley region.
