More rolling blackouts hit California

By Audrey Cooper

Associated Press

FOLSOM, Calif. – Hot weather and a high number of power plants down for maintenance forced a second straight day of rolling blackouts today.

California grid operators cut enough power to supply 300,000 homes statewide, and nearly 180,000 customers suffered blackouts in pockets from San Diego to Sacramento. Los Angeles, which has its own utility and is not reliant on the state’s power grid, was not affected.

“We just have run out of supply available and (we have) high demand because of high temperatures,” said Lorie O’Donley, an ISO spokeswoman.

The state may be looking at a “long week” because of continued high temperatures, she said.

The ISO, which manages of the state’s power grid, said it imported more power from the Northwest and Canada to avoid blackouts in the morning.

Consumers did not seem to conserve as much as they did during Monday’s blackouts, said Director of Grid Operations Jim McIntosh. He said the state’s demand climbed along with higher afternoon temperatures, meaning consumers likely weren’t cutting back on air conditioning or other power uses.

ISO engineers were able to purchase 400 megawatts of power from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, but that did not ease the shortage sufficiently.

California has had five days of blackouts this year.

Temperatures in the inland areas and Southern California were expected to reach the mid-90s. Hot weather in Northern California was also expected.

On Monday, record-breaking heat and the shutdown of several key plants for pre-summer maintenance led grid managers to cut off power to about 103,000 customers throughout California late in the afternoon. It was the first round of blackouts in California since March.