Oct 2019 electric utility power shutdowns in various parts of California

[Big Earl]

How’s it going out there this morning?

After several days of no power, I imagine a lot more people will be considering solar + battery storage.

 

[ElectricLee]

Car is Charged to 90% and ready for the traffic jam with no traffic lights in silicone valley around 12 noon.

 

[ecarfan]

Hi everyone: my wife and I are vacationing in Vancouver, Canada, but I’ve been receiving the San Mateo County email alerts about this situation. One of them contained this small, low quality image of a map of the San Francisco Peninsula areas that may experience a power shutdown (I’ve read there may also be shutdowns in the East Bay in Oakland and Berkeley). My house is just outside of the orange area. But I am not assuming the power shutdowns will be confined to exactly the area shown. Fortunately, I have 9.8kW of solar and a V1 Powerwall so my fridge will keep running no matter what: if the grid in my neighborhood shuts down my system automatically switches over to internal power. But if there is a prolonged shutdown it is going to be a real hardship on a lot of people! The US is wealthy enough that it could, if the political will was there, convert the entire power grid to sustainable energy and build local micro grids so power shutdowns like this thread is discussing would not be necessary. In the meantime, if you can afford it, solar and batteries greatly reduce your dependency on the grid.

 

[Eno Deb]

The incompetence of this company is astonishing. They tell us we shouldn't be surprised because they have warned us about possible safety power shutoffs for months, but apparently they themselves are the least prepared. Web sites can't keep up (who knew that customers would actually try to access them?), and they don't have detailed information anyway about which addresses exactly will be affected. No warning emails have been going out in my area, so unless you happen to hear it on local news, you have no time to prepare. And it may take up to 5 fricking days to bring the network back up again?

Not to mention of course that their "solution" to the fire issue is completely ridiculous. They should invest in installing safe equipment, clearing brush where necessary, and place observers in critical areas. But obviously saving money in the name of "shareholder value" trumps all. I hope all this will have consequences for their management.

 

[Nocturnal]

I'm sure climate change has nothing to do with this...

 

[ElectricLee]

Some stores that were without power were looted a few hours after midnight. Not a good deal for store owners.

 

[AMPd]

Probably best not to travel during these times.
Surely there’s got to be a solution to this problem.

 

[ecarfan]

Millions without power as PG&E shuts down grid amid critical fire danger

The power shutdowns are affecting multiple counties, from Humboldt in the north tothe Sierra foothills to the Sacramento area to the North Bay, parts of the San Francisco Peninsula and East Bay. Quote from article:
———————————————
The first power cutoffs, affecting about 513,000 customers, began shortly after midnight in several counties around Sacramento, including Placer and Yuba, amid strengthening winds and continued to roll out into the early morning hours, eventually leaving millions of Californians in the dark.

By 12:30 a.m., power was cut in large portions of wine country, including Napa and Sonoma valleys. Portions of Marin County just north of San Francisco lost power next. Minutes later, the utility cut service in El Dorado County and sections of the upper Sacramento Valley. By 5 a.m., the outages had extended to Humbolt County to the north, Marin County to the south and as far as Nevada County to the east, according to a map provided by the utility.

The second phase of the shutoff is expected to occur around noon in areas around Silicon Valley and the East San Francisco Bay. About 234,000 customers in Alameda, Alpine, Contra Costa, Mariposa, San Joaquin, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties are expected to lose power between noon and about 5 p.m.
—————————————————

 

[ecarfan]

Probably best not to travel during these times.
Surely there’s got to be a solution to this problem.

This post was made in a separate thread and was merged into this thread. Thread title was something to the effect of “How are Tesla Superchargers effected by the power shutdowns?”.

It seems to me that if a Supercharger is in an area where power is shutdown, that Supercharger will lose power.

So if you are making a long distance trip in an EV, keep that in mind.

Of course gasoline stations with no electricity can’t pump gas, so ICE cars are effected by these power shutdowns as well.

 

[ChrisJ]

The Napa supercharger is offline but the Vallejo one, 10 miles further south is operational.

 

[Russell]

This post was made in a separate thread and was merged into this thread. Thread title was something to the effect of “How are Tesla Superchargers effected by the power shutdowns?”.

It seems to me that if a Supercharger is in an area where power is shutdown, that Supercharger will lose power.

So if you are making a long distance trip in an EV, keep that in mind.

Of course gasoline stations with no electricity can’t pump gas, so ICE cars are effected by these power shutdowns as well.

From looking at PG&E's map, none of the Superchargers in the South Bay Area will be affected by the shutdown.

How does it look for the Peninsula Superchargers?

 

[israndy]

After several days of no power, I imagine a lot more people will be considering solar + battery storage.

So if I wanted to take advantage of my solar panels on the roof, I thought, throw the breaker to disconnect from the grid, run a cable from the 12v power of the Tesla to a 240v inverter, wire that into the breaker panel and turn it on. This should wake the inverters under the panels and they should start producing power. Then I can plug the car into the wall and it will charge the car, thus completing the circuit.

Not sure what would happen to the excess power generated... Guess I could plug in the refrigerator too.

 

[vickh]

So if I wanted to take advantage of my solar panels on the roof, I thought, throw the breaker to disconnect from the grid, run a cable from the 12v power of the Tesla to a 240v inverter, wire that into the breaker panel and turn it on. This should wake the inverters under the panels and they should start producing power. Then I can plug the car into the wall and it will charge the car, thus completing the circuit.

Not sure what would happen to the excess power generated... Guess I could plug in the refrigerator too.

That's APS plan here in AZ. Sell free EV chargers to deal with excess capacity that CA has to send during peak hours. We're the "free batteries"

 

[jboy210]

Time to plan for Tesla Solar and 2 days of Powerwalls for your home.

Or just fly somewhere else for a few days. Tesla quoted us $40K for a solar and 1 powerwall!

 

[jboy210]

If you want to get alerted by PG&E about power shutdowns in your zip code text the word "Enroll" to 97633. They will ask a couple of verification questions and the zip code.

I just got notice that they are turning off power in our zip code, but checking the map on the local police website it looks like is for an area a mile away and up the hill into the woods.

 

[jboy210]

From looking at PG&E's map, none of the Superchargers in the South Bay Area will be affected by the shutdown.

How does it look for the Peninsula Superchargers?

Pretty sure most are OK.101 looks good all the way to the city. Also, 92 from the bridge to 101. But most of the hills to the west are in the shutdown area.

The ones along 580 in the East Bay look good also.

 

[KSilver2000]

LA Times article on Oct 9, 2019: Millions without power as PG&E shuts down grid amid critical fire danger

The first power cutoffs, affecting about 513,000 customers, began shortly after midnight in several counties around Sacramento, including Placer and Yuba, amid strengthening winds and continued to roll out into the early morning hours, eventually leaving millions of Californians in the dark.

By 12:30 a.m., power was cut in large portions of wine country, including Napa and Sonoma valleys. Portions of Marin County just north of San Francisco lost power next. Minutes later, the utility cut service in El Dorado County and sections of the upper Sacramento Valley. By 5 a.m., the outages had extended to Humbolt County to the north, Marin County to the south and as far as Nevada County to the east, according to a map provided by the utility.

The second phase of the shutoff is expected to occur around noon in areas around Silicon Valley and the East San Francisco Bay. About 234,000 customers in Alameda, Alpine, Contra Costa, Mariposa, San Joaquin, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties are expected to lose power between noon and about 5 p.m.

The headline "Millions without power." Lol Talk about making something out of nothing.

In the article, you can clearly add up the estimates and it doesn't even add up to a million throughout entire northern half of CA.

 

[KSilver2000]

Real curious to know what percentage of the 8+ million people in the Bay Area, after this PSPS event, has entertained the idea of buying either a generator or battery backup.

 

[AMPd]

Of course gasoline stations with no electricity can’t pump gas, so ICE cars are effected by these power shutdowns as well.

Right.. but also some of them have generators to keep the pumps working and because there’s a lot of them one can take a detour through areas that weren’t affected.

 

[AMPd]

Real curious to know what percentage of the 8+ million people in the Bay Area, after this PSPS event, has entertained the idea of buying either a generator or battery backup.

I have and I don’t live in the Bay Area, or in a PGE service area.
Our electricity is provided by the local utility