Heat Wave Archives

California Allows Polluting Power Plants to Keep Running. Recent Blackouts Helped Save Them

Two weeks after California was hit with rolling blackouts, state regulators extended the lifespan of a fleet of gas-fired power plants Tuesday, saying the facilities are needed to maintain reliability of the electricity grid. The State Water Resources Control Board voted 4-0 to allow nine generating units to operate up to three more years before they’re mothballed, overriding objections from environmentalists and some local officials complaining about air and water pollution.

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Ocean Water Has Record Temperature Off San Diego Coast

San Diego ocean temperatures hit record territory this past weekend, as a heatwave also baked the San Diego Region. The record comes just weeks after the unseasonably cool ocean temperatures were recorded. Someone has taken the temperature at the end of Scripps Pier every day for more than 100 years. Sunday’s reading tied for the hottest on record 79.5 degrees Fahrenheit. It tied the record that was set just two years ago.

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Why Renewables Aren’t to Blame for California’s Blackouts

August 26, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /National Geographicby Alejandra Borunda

When blackouts rolled across California on August 14 and 15, briefly cutting off power to several hundred thousand households and their air conditioners, fridges, and medical devices during a pandemic and a record-breaking heat wave, some critics blamed the state’s heavy reliance on solar and wind energy. As the state pursues its ambitious renewable energy goals, they asked, will electric power become unreliable?

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Poor Planning Left California Short of Electricity in a Heat Wave

August 24, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Kristiene Gong /The New York Timesby Ivan Penn

Everybody had known for days that a heat wave was about to wallop California. Yet a dashboard maintained by the organization that manages the state’s electric grid showed that scores of power plants were down or producing below peak strength, a stunning failure of planning, poor record keeping and sheer bad luck.

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Behind the Scenes Maneuvering Averts Even More California Power Outages

August 20, 2020/in Home Headline, Media Coverage, San Diego County /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /NBC 4 Los Angelesby Patrick Healy

The return of critical electrical shortages last weekend, prompting emergency rolling power cut-offs scattered throughout California, triggered a broad range of extraordinary responses in the ensuing days to bring the statewide grid back from the brink of being overloaded and overwhelmed, officials have revealed.

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Newsom Declares Statewide Emergency as Fires Burn Across California

August 19, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Los Angeles Timesby Colleen Shalby, Leila Miller, Rong-Gong Lin II

Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a statewide emergency in order to help California respond to the fires burning across the state amid an extreme heat wave that brought more warnings about power outages on Tuesday.

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Climate Change Hits Home in Colorado with Raging Wildfires, Shrinking Water Flows and Record Heat

August 19, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /The Denver Postby Bruce Finley

Climate change hit home in Colorado this week, exacerbating multiple environmental calamities: wildfires burning across 135,423 acres, stream flows shrinking to where state officials urged limits on fishing, drought wilting crops, and record temperatures baking heat-absorbing cities.

This is what scientists, for decades, have been warning would happen.

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California Again Avoids Rolling Blackouts as Conservation Measures Kick In

August 19, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /San Francisco Chronicleby J.D. Morris

California avoided another round of rolling blackouts Tuesday as power conservation efforts helped stave off an energy shortage while excessive heat continued to plague the state.

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Glen Canyon Dam Tapped for Emergency Water Releases to Meet California Power Demands

August 18, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /AZ Centralby Erin Stone

For the first time in nearly two decades, the federal government tapped Glen Canyon Dam for extra power generating capacity this weekend, triggering emergency water releases as heat waves persisted across the West.

As temperatures hit records in California, power providers turned to sources in Nevada, Utah and Arizona to cope with the surge in demand across its electrical grid.

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SDG&E: Rolling Blackouts Averted Monday Thanks to Energy Conservation

August 18, 2020/in Home Headline, Media Coverage, San Diego County /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Times of San Diegoby Chris Jennewein

San Diego Gas & Electric was directed to begin rolling blackouts Monday that could have effected 100,000 customers, but the power crisis was averted at the last moment. “Rotating outages were averted in San Diego and southern Orange counties today, in part thanks to local residents and businesses heeding the call to cut back on energy usage amid a prolonged heat wave and exceptionally high energy demand,” the utility said in a statement.

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