View Full Version : California Power Outages
This looks like a fiasco in the works.
To those in California, is this real life out there?
PG&E began shutting off power Wednesday morning, cutting off more than 500,000 homes and businesses in Northern California. The utility turned off electricity for another 234,000 in major cities including San Jose and Santa Cruz starting around 10:30 p.m. through midnight Pacific time after delays.
An additional 4,000 customers in Kern County may also lose power Thursday, depending on weather conditions, PG&E said.
'PG&E clearly hasn't made its system safe': California lawmakers slam utility amid widespread power outage
Farther south, where gusty Santa Ana winds weren't expected until early Thursday, Southern California Edison announced it may turn off power to more than 170,000 customers in its 50,000-square-mile service area. It includes at least 49,024 in the northern reaches of Los Angeles County and 20,449 in Ventura County.
San Diego Gas & Electric said it is prepared to cut power to 34,022 customers, with most of the communities affected in inland areas.
Because a single customer account can serve a household or business, the estimated number of people without power was expected to reach 2 million.
Why are there power outages?
Power lines were blamed for sparking the Camp Fire nearly a year ago that killed 85 people, blackened 153,000 acres and destroyed 14,000 structures in Northern California. The town of Paradise, population 26,800 as of 2010, was so devastated that only 2,034 residents were left by April.
PG&E filed for bankruptcy after a cascade of lawsuits arising from the fires. To avoid being blamed for another conflagration and having to shoulder massive payouts due to fires from downed lines, utilities have decided to cut power during high-wind episodes.
On to the WTF part:
Can a homeowner with solar panels just use their own power?
In many cases, no. Almost all home solar systems are tied into the local power company’s power grid, so customers can feed solar back into the system and get compensated for the electricity their solar panels produce.
These systems are designed to turn off when utility power is out. This is for the safety of electrical workers who may be working on the grid near a home during an outage. Having power flowing into the system could kill them.
To be able to access your solar power in a shutoff, you would need to have a solar inverter that offers backup capability installed as part of your system. “These inverters are quite common today,” said Lior Handelsman, vice president of marketing for SolarEdge.
Source (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/10/09/power-outage-q-a-what-california-needs-know-cutoffs/3922175002/)
mojaveman
10-10-2019, 11:15
And are there going to be lawsuits filed by customers for their utilities being turned off? It's a no win situation for the power companies. Kalifornia is going to hell in a hand basket. Can't wait to retire and leave.
I'm sure they aren't going to give anyone a cut in their bill while they are forcing them to live in their temporary caves due to the outages.
I'm sure they aren't going to give anyone a cut in their bill while they are forcing them to live in their temporary caves due to the outages.
Nope. How else will PG&E pay its top level executives their $14 million in bonuses?
S
I hope they fix the problem quick before the liberal-virus leaves California and infects nearby states
Old Dog New Trick
10-11-2019, 07:56
I hope they fix the problem quick before the liberal-virus leaves California and infects nearby states
Thankfully they won’t be able until their electric cars are recharged.
Thankfully they won’t be able until their electric cars are recharged.
Brilliant observation. Think of all the Tesla's that will be deadlined when the power grid goes offline, while the "dinosaur drivers" simply hop into their gasoline powered cars and zoom off.
Old Dog New Trick
10-11-2019, 10:06
Only unless and until they reach a closed gas station before running out of $4.50/gal gasoline. (Price of socialist gasoline in Kalifornia only exceeded by the islanders in the great socialist state of Hah-vy-ee. Where volcanos still burn everything in their path down and create new land to tax!)
Can’t wait (no not really and hope never happens) for a fireman to be killed by the explosion of improper storage of mass quantities of gasoline to power generators to keep the lights on in Malibu mansion because PG&E can’t manage the grass and trees near their power lines. (That will be a sad day)
Looks like California's decline into third-world status is accelerating.
tom kelly
10-11-2019, 14:06
Looks like California's decline into third-world status is accelerating.
Thank the people who have voted for the Radical Left/ Socialist Parasites that are leading to the decline of Western Civilization. Parasite Gov. Gary New Some is the problem along with the Demo Rats elected and appointed to positions that are the cause of the problems in California. MARK MY WORDS, by John Mark. Peaceful Separation is no longer a possibility. Look it Up.
Badger52
10-11-2019, 14:50
Brilliant observation. Think of all the Tesla's that will be deadlined when the power grid goes offline, while the "dinosaur drivers" simply hop into their gasoline powered cars and zoom off.Heh. I wonder if it's a chicken vs. egg thing. If they get their wish, what happens to such a fragile grid when a whole valley subdivision comes home from work and plugs in to charge? What, an additional 75 amps per?
Starting a Go-Fund-Me for my Green start-up
JJ's Mobile Charging Service
I got's AMPs to spare
:munchin
Old Dog New Trick
10-11-2019, 16:01
ROTFLMAO!!!
You know what’s makes that so damned funny? It’s not just because the net energy used to dig up lithium and all the other materials that go into making these batteries is a net loss in energy...let’s not even discuss the disposal issue.
What’s funny about those pictures is that they are charging an electric car battery with a combustion engine. Thanks for the belly laugh!
Badger52
10-11-2019, 16:14
Starting a Go-Fund-Me for my Green start-up
JJ's Mobile Charging Service
I got's AMPs to spare
:munchinBe sure & get your AAA accreditation & the phone will be ringing off the hook. I predict great things for you young man. :D
At a nearby Walmart, the evergreens and a large grassy area between it & the strip mall on the other side were torn up to put in 4 of those big 2-banger charging stations and their associated transformers. They sit pretty much unused. Those things are spendy. Seems a shame, those were good lookin' trees....
:rolleyes:
Power outages by PG&E, to prevent wildfires, is horse-shit. (I used to live there...)
There is one wildfire that just sprang up! One of my oldest friends and her family just told me, "we have masks...and it is raining ash right now".
Just regular folks, not the left, trying to make a living in CA.
Jeeze....:confused: :rolleyes:
Holly
What’s funny about those pictures is that they are charging an electric car battery with a combustion engine. Thanks for the belly laugh!
But that is true of all "pollution free" electric cars.
They don't remove pollution, they just move the pollution somewhere else.
In California, over 10% of electricity, however generated, is lost in the transmission lines and transformers before it actually flows into the cars battery, is stored, and then withdrawn as power.
Even at the last stage ... from the charging stations cable into the car battery,
then out of the battery to the electric motor turning the wheels ... 40% of the electricity is wasted.
Badger52
10-11-2019, 21:53
Power outages by PG&E, to prevent wildfires, is horse-shit. (I used to live there...)Agreed. Wildfires happen for a variety of reasons since... ever. I grew up in the San Fernando Valley and we'd sit & watch the Borate Bomber fleet of used up B-17's and PBY's come through because school was out from the ash & smoke. I wonder how many households they are not serving that have a medical restoral priority due to equipment in the house - or even if they run such a program - and what the ramifications of that are. Somewhere an actuary probably made a determination as to which lives are more worthy. Cue Erin Brockovich...
Badger52
10-11-2019, 21:58
I wonder how many households they are not serving that have a medical restoral priority due to equipment in the house - or even if they run such a program - and what the ramifications of that are.
Jeebers, spoke too soon...
A Northern California man dependent on an oxygen supply died Wednesday, shortly after power cuts by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. affected his home, fire officials said Friday.
Robert Mardis, 67, died roughly 12 minutes after PG&E cut power to his home and the surrounding area. An autopsy report concluded the man died of severe coronary artery atherosclerosis, according to the Sacramento Bee.
Fire personnel responded to a call around 3:40 a.m. and found Mardis unresponsive on the floor of his home, according to El Dorado County Interim Fire Chief Lloyd Ogan. He was found wearing a nasal cannula, used to deliver oxygen to the nose, and was hooked up to a PPAP machine for that purpose. Mardis' family told Fox 40 he couldn’t reach his battery-powered tank in time.
LINK (https://www.foxnews.com/us/oxygen-dependent-man-dies-12-minutes-after-pge-cuts-power-to-his-home)
Power outages by PG&E, to prevent wildfires, is horse-shit. (I used to live there...)
Holly
Not really. The Camp Fire last year (85 deaths, 18,000 buildings destroyed, and $18.5 billion spent) was caused by their power lines. The environmentalists fueled it and PG&E sparked it. But the environmentalists aren't being sued and PG&E is.
TOMAHAWK9521
10-12-2019, 08:33
Not really. The Camp Fire last year (85 deaths, 18,000 buildings destroyed, and $18.5 billion spent) was caused by their power lines. The environmentalists fueled it and PG&E sparked it. But the environmentalists aren't being sued and PG&E is.
That's because PG&E is man made and those evil men work for greedy corporate America whereas the environment is, well, natural, and therefore cannot be sued for what happens in nature. And the environmentalists cannot be sued because they are only well-meaning individuals or minorities who are trying to "protect" the environment (for the children) by pushing legislation to allow nature to continue on its course, rather than a corporate entity that implemented earth-ravaging, man-made changes which altered nature's course.
Not really. The Camp Fire last year (85 deaths, 18,000 buildings destroyed, and $18.5 billion spent) was caused by their power lines. The environmentalists fueled it and PG&E sparked it. But the environmentalists aren't being sued and PG&E is.
Looks like PG&E shares are about to tank.
PG&E shareholders could get wiped out
By Jonathan GarberFOXBusiness
Pacific Gas & Electric Company shareholders are facing the possibility of a worst-case scenario -- the value of their holdings getting completely wiped out -- after a federal bankruptcy judge’s ruling.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali decided this week that the California utility doesn’t have the ability to solely control its reorganization and that a plan put forth by bondholders, led by the hedge fund Elliott Management and supported by California citizens with wildfire-damage claims against the utility, must be considered.
The plan leaves current shareholders with a much smaller stake in the reorganized company than management had proposed, according to the New York Times.
PG&E filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January because of liabilities stemming from deadly wildfires in Northern California in 2017 and 2018.
link: (https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/pge-shareholders-could-get-wiped-out)
bblhead672
10-15-2019, 10:17
I understand that PG&E is restricted from maintaining the areas under the lines due to California environmental regulations.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
A few "health-challenged" citizens die? Oh well, sacrifices have to be made comrade.
Badger52
10-15-2019, 10:30
Not really. The Camp Fire last year (85 deaths, 18,000 buildings destroyed, and $18.5 billion spent) was caused by their power lines. The environmentalists fueled it and PG&E sparked it. But the environmentalists aren't being sued and PG&E is.Dear California,
This stuff is called understory. You keep it cleared so your forests don't go up like <cue short video clip of BLU-82, 1 each>. These are fire breaks; you put them in so your stupidity-driven BLU-82 doesn't repeat and look like <cue short video clip of GEN Lemay briefing after B-29 incendiary strike wipes Nagoya from the map>.
But hey, go ahead & save that caterpillar, by all means.
Power outages by PG&E, to prevent wildfires, is horse-shit. (I used to live there...)
There is one wildfire that just sprang up! One of my oldest friends and her family just told me, "we have masks...and it is raining ash right now".
Just regular folks, not the left, trying to make a living in CA.
Jeeze....:confused: :rolleyes:
Holly
It isn't to prevent wildfires. It is to prevent being BLAMED for wildfires.
New life to that old joke...
“...last one out of CA please shut the lights...”
...seems Newsom and PG&E already have.
Hey - here is a great idea
lets all be more like california
lets all follow trends set by California because they are SOOO progressive
their state is SOO successful
Schmucks
mark46th
11-04-2019, 09:26
The electric companies just got sued for $12,000,000,000.00 and people wonder why the juice is shut off? And now the people are threatening to sue when the power is shut off? Such dumbassery is beyond comprehension.
Ret10Echo
11-04-2019, 10:25
just got sued for $12,000,000,000.00
LOL... In the category of delusional virtue signaling...
Where is the Dr. Evil meme when they came up with that number?
They are destined to be the next Venezuela.
tom kelly
11-04-2019, 12:21
While watching the LA Chargers football game on Sunday Nov.3 everything looked O K no mention of the fires by the announcers, that I herd. How bad is it near the LA Chargers field?
How bad is it near the LA Chargers field?
The 2 closest fires were 25 miles to the north and about 35 miles to the east. If they had an offshore wind, the latter may have sent some smoke their way.