Norcal heat wave

[getakey]

Thanks for checking on / thinking about us. Yes, we (at my home) appear to be out of the woods. The impact of kay on my area was both wind, increased humidity and off and on rain for most of the past couple days. CalFire reduced the size of the both the mandatory evac zone, and the "evacuation warning" zone.

I live in a city called Temecula, on the edge between It and a city called Murrieta. The evac zone that they had for this fire was basically most of Temecula Wine country, but I dont know if the fire reached any of the wineries (I havent checked).

was down in Temecula a few years ago (for a sad reason as a friend passed). But it is a Nice area. We went there during that huge storm that caused flooding in LA area. We had rented a small RV and it was the worst drive ever from Bay area to Temecula. Big winds and rain. Took us 12+ hours

 

[Redhill_qik]

I don’t know about other ACCs but when SVCE rolled out to our city every resident was opted in to it automatically and you had to opt out otherwise. Heard that was something they fought to get. Thinking the vast majority of residents would not opt out and just go with the flow. The cities who signed up to be part of SVCE got some benefits like splitting a cash pot with other cities and could use the funds for things like charging stations. At least that’s what was explained during the SVCE community meeting. No idea how other ACCs handled this.

However that all leads me to think that PG&E lost a substantial amount of generation fees and only have the monthly charge (ours right now $10) from departing customers to collect in place of what they would have otherwise collected. Believe they are looking to get approval to increase that fee as well as other rates. Apart from installing distribution service to new construction they have the underground trenching to do and then there’s the wildfire claims. Not sure how fast they are approving solar and battery systems these days. I was kind of surprised they joined Tesla in promoting the VPP but given loss of power from hydro sources why not add another source.

It's correct that when a CCA starts it is an an opt-out to stay with PG&E. It's not correct to say that PG&E is losing profits over this as the generation portion is the only component that transfers which is supposed to be a zero profit charge for PG&E. PG&E keeps the Power Charge Indifference Adjustment, PCIA, for higher cost long term supply contracts. The current PCIA charge is $0.02572, but for that that moved to SVCE in 2017 it is $0.01968.

Most of the PG&E revenue comes from transmission and distribution all which CCA customers continue to pay PG&E.

 

[cybertrucker]

Within a few miles of the coast, yes.

For the rest of CA, not so much.

It was a record smashing 116°F 9/6/2022 in my neck of the woods. And only today finally relief after several oppressive days.

Living in the desert is a choice

 

[iPlug]

Living in the desert is a choice

Very few Californians live in the desert; we are rather far away from one. No deserts in Northern CA either.

 

[aesculus]

To pile on from what @iPlug posted above: This is the September heat anomaly map for the west we just experienced. Note we don't have the benefit of monsoonal rainfall like TX had.

 

[holeydonut]

Kind of sad that the mean anomaly color-scale has a +28F nasty shade of poop brown. I think we'll be seeing that poop brown in 2023 as we keep having these "once in a generation" weather events.

 

[Big Earl]

Kind of sad that the mean anomaly color-scale has a +28F nasty shade of poop brown. I think we'll be seeing that poop brown in 2023 as we keep having these "once in a generation" weather events.

Yep, although the top of the scale is +28 C, not F

 

[holeydonut]

Yep, although the top of the scale is +28 C, not F

Son of a... this is not good.

 

[Big Earl]

Son of a... this is not good.

The highest shade on the actual map is +8°C or +14.4°F. But yes, if we get into +20°C anomalies, life is going to get really difficult.

 

[getakey]

I thought this article might mention V2G, but it doesn't

A Very California Lesson on Just How Weird Electricity Is

The state’s record-smashing heat wave is a window into the future … and it’s okay.

www.theatlantic.com

 

[holeydonut]

I thought this article might mention V2G, but it doesn't

A Very California Lesson on Just How Weird Electricity Is

The state’s record-smashing heat wave is a window into the future … and it’s okay.

www.theatlantic.com

Enphase acquired Clipper Creek to eventually get bidirectional charging / export from EVs to help with the Grid. It seems like a great next step for EVs. There are millions of EVs just sitting in garages that could help the grid at peak time... but currently can only provide fart-app sounds to help PG&E.

 

[cybertrucker]

Very few Californians live in the desert; we are rather far away from one. No deserts in Northern CA either.

My response to this comment was deleted, but the original comment was left up.

Anyone interested in a dissenting opinion, or is this an echo chamber?


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[jboy210]

I thought this article might mention V2G, but it doesn't

A Very California Lesson on Just How Weird Electricity Is

The state’s record-smashing heat wave is a window into the future … and it’s okay.

www.theatlantic.com

Interesting article. Thanks for the link. More evidence that solar and Powerwalls were a good decision.

Hopefully V2G will become commonplace as we transition to EVs, and more people will have electricity resiliency.

 

[cybertrucker]

Hopefully V2G will become commonplace as we transition to EVs, and more people will have electricity resiliency.

Us regular folks are gonna need some good lobbyists to compete against the power utilities.

Same groups that don't want users to be able sell solar back to the grid (or pay you a pittance) will probably oppose V2G (or legislate a way to bill you for it), and that is a shame.


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[skepticcyclist]

Very few Californians live in the desert; we are rather far away from one. No deserts in Northern CA either.

Depending on how you define desert, many don’t realize that deserts make up a larger percentage of Washington state than California.

Again, depending on how you define a desert, the Modoc Plateau is a considered a desert.

 

[cybertrucker]

Depending on how you define desert, many don’t realize that deserts make up a larger percentage of Washington state than California.

Again, depending on how you define a desert, the Modoc Plateau is a considered a desert.

Yep, that map is a little "revisionist"....but much of what is in the rain shadows in Washington (and Oregon too) could be considered arid, or desert.

"Chaparral" is pretty much desert with an ocean view.

"Agland" is pretty much desert with water diverted to it.

So, a lot of desert with some nice Redwood and Sequoia forests on top.

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[iPlug]

These definitions are not really up to us. It's a matter of expert scientific criteria.

Most experts agree that a desert is an area of land that receives no more than 25 centimeters (10 inches) of precipitation a year.
desert | National Geographic Society

Here's a map that is more generous to desert claims. Again, as posted above, very few Californians live in the desert per expert criteria.

Again this thread is about Northern CA and the lowest patch of rainfall here is tiny at 5-10 inches a year, and the population per square mile is <1.

 

[cybertrucker]

The two "expert" maps you posted disagree with each other.

I find that interesting.

But these days you can search for and find almost anything to support a pre conceived notion.

Anyway I hope the heat wave recedes, the grid holds up, and everyone learns to prepare for more extreme events. Maybe at the least this will fire people up to get more resilient base loads, efficient homes and appliances, and more flexible alternative sources like V2G.

 

[iPlug]

The two "expert" maps you posted disagree with each other.

Not really, there is often some overlap between biomes including desert ones.

But these days you can search for and find almost anything to support a pre conceived notion.

Good thing this science isn't preconceived. This is why we have scientists/experts.

 

[cybertrucker]

Not really, there is often some overlap between biomes including desert ones.

Yes really. Your first map called a vast swath of California "agland" when in fact it is truthfully desert, as your second map concedes.

The funny (or maybe sad) thing is while you are searching for rainfall amounts from 30+ years ago to support your pre conceived notions, the statewide enviro climes have changed and you haven't even noticed:

I hope people notice and demand changes before it's too late.

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