Another Flex Alert and Another Day of Triple-Digit Temperatures for San Jose

This report has been updated, as of 9am Friday, Sept. 9.

The California Independent System Operator issued another statewide Flex Alert for today, Sept. 9, from 4 to 9pm, calling for voluntary electricity conservation in response to predictions of continued high temperatures pushing up energy demand and tightening available power supplies.

With triple-digit temperatures forecast for San Jose and in many parts of the state, the power grid operator  is expecting an increase in electricity demand, primarily from air conditioning use, and is calling for voluntary conservation steps to help balance supply and demand.

“Consumers are urged to conserve electricity, especially during the late afternoon and early evening, when the grid is most stressed due to higher demand and less solar energy,” the system operator said in a statement.

The system operator this morning reported that current capacity of the system was 53.380 megawatts of electricity, and warned that the peak demand could reach 46,645 megawatts. The report, as of 9am, pegged the current use at 36,530 megawatts.

“Reducing energy use during a Flex Alert can help stabilize the power grid during a time of tight supply conditions, and prevent further emergency measures, including power outages.”

For information on Flex Alerts, and to get more electricity conservation tips, visit flexalert.org.

A Flex Alert is typically issued in the summer when extremely hot weather drives up electricity use, making the available power supply scarce. This usually happens in the evening hours when solar generation is going offline and consumers are returning home and switching on air conditioners, lights, and appliances.

Although rolling blackouts across the state were avoided during Wednesday’s Flex Alert, some residents of Palo Alto, Alameda and Healdsburg still lost power.

The National Weather Service forecast for today for San Jose calls for sunny and hot weather, with a a high near 101.

The forecast for Friday and Saturday:

Friday: Sunny, with a high near 101. Calm wind becoming northwest 5 to 8 mph in the afternoon.

Friday night: Increasing clouds, with a low around 64. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light and variable in the evening. Winds could gust as high as 18 mph.

Saturday:Mostly cloudy, with a high near 84. Calm wind becoming west southwest 5 to 8 mph in the afternoon.

Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 65.

 

Three decades of journalism experience, as a writer and editor with Gannett, Knight-Ridder and Lee newspapers, as a business journal editor and publisher and as a weekly newspaper editor in Scotts Valley and Gilroy; with the Weeklys group since 2017. Recipient of several first-place writing and editing awards, California News Publishers Association.

3 Comments

  1. More California Freedom?
    The Freedom to elect sleazy hypocritical low-quality leadership that continues to Fail on Energy Policy, Power Grid, Water, Wild Fires, Welfare, Soaring Crime, Pensions and the list goes on – way too long.

    About the the only thing California seems not to Fail in is attracting the nations vagrants, welfare minded, drug seeking and under the table working transient populations.

    Why do California Politicians always wait until the middle of the Next Crisis to start making promises of Action?

    Hypocritical Newsom is taken to task for California’s Continued Failure in the WSJ.

    (Wall Street Journal, Sep 07, 2022)
    “Gavin Newsom’s Dirty Energy Secret”
    California’s electricity woes result from Man-Made Climate POLICIES, not from climate change.

  2. Missed this article to match the weather, but you know California governance is not going to solve any of our Energy, Power, Water, Fire or Crime and Vagrancy issues anytime in the near future.

    Truth and Karma…

    “Newsom Promises There Will Be Enough Electricity For All Californians After Everyone Moves To Florida” …..(BBee, Sep 6, 2022)

    LOS ANGELES, CA — Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a power grid emergency due to energy usage being at a 5-year high. Still, Newsom has assured everyone that they will have plenty of electricity to spare as soon as everyone leaves the state to live in Florida instead.

    “Everyone, I understand your frustration, but by the end of the year with Everyone LEAVING California, we’re gonna cut our energy usage in half!”
    explained Governor Newsom.
    “In fact, so many are headed for Florida that the few of us who remain will be able to do cool stuff like use air conditioning and charge iPhones!”

    Newsom explained that he’s optimistic that as more and more abandon the unlivable, unaffordable mess he’s making out of California, this will create a surplus in all resources for all who remain.

    “Look, folks, anyone willing to stoop so low as to move to a state with Plentiful Energy,
    Strong Education, and Safe Neighborhoods without hundreds of homeless is not Californian at all,”
    added Newsom.
    “And to people like that, we say GOOD RIDDANCE!”

    At publishing time, Gavin Newsom realized he’d made a huge mistake as the only people left in California were now himself and 200,000 homeless people.

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