I spent eleven hours today hooking up large generators (up to 2MW) for businesses. I'm a controls/PLC guy so it's not what I normally do but this was an all-hands-on-deck situation. Two places had their fire alarms go off as soon as the power was restored (due to issues with fire pump controls too long to get into here) and they weren't able to disable the alarm in time to prevent a fire dispatch.
Fire resources getting needlessly tied up plus a ton of hastily-connected generators seems like a recipe for a problem.
Side note, I lost track of how many times I had to explain to people why their giant solar arrays wouldn't be able to power their facility when the grid is down.
The main reason is that most solar arrays are set up in such a way that they require the grid to operate. If you want to run your array without the grid it's a different type of system and requires additional hardware (transfer switches) to ensure that you don't backfeed power to the grid, creating a safety hazard for people working on the lines. Storage is also a necessity if you're operating off-grid.
Newer inverters also use a type of communication over the power line where the utility can among other things tell the system to curtail export power if there's too much of a surplus on the grid.
Very few solar panel arrays provide power at night. Those that do have energy storage systems attached that were very expensive to add. When the purpose of the array is to save on expense of peak-usage power, storage is not essential and is often omitted.
Even in the daytime, without grid access you need storage because the power produced does not rise and fall with your load. Turn on the microwave and the clothes dryer, and instantaneous load may exceed what the panels are producing right now. A cloud going by reduces generation, possibly below current load.
Sounds like a good reason to indemnify utility providers from fires their systems cause for reasons other than outright negligence...
Otherwise, facing potentially billions in liabilities, it just doesn't make economic sense _for the utility_ to provide power to high risk areas during high risk weather.
They didn't happen before because trees were kept cut back. They were not cut back because PGE management chose not to spend the money cutting them back as they had been for decades before.
There was no "high-risk" weather throughout almost all of the area where power was cut. This cut was purely a stunt to get free insurance against deliberate negligent behavior.
Consider the Tubb's fire that PG&E is being sued over and which triggered their filing for bankrupcy protection: Cal Fire's investigation concluded that the fire was caused by a private electrical system and not PG&E.
my dad's dialysis clinic found out about the power shutoff the same way we did. the news.
the plan is to go to the local hospitals/ERs for dialysis because the clinic isn't equipped to handle anything beyond a short outage right now. except, well, that's everyone's plan. during the start of cold and flu season. excellent to send a bunch of medically fragile people to the same place. and the hospital is not equipped to deal with regular repeat dialysis needs either...?
and this is only dialysis - can't even begin to express the fury on behalf of people who won't even be able to leave their homes - think power chairs and hospital beds and elevators that run out of power in the multi-day-outage scenario...
FYI (assuming this is going to be the new normal for a bit) have the clinic check out the State SGIP program for funding to buy battery storage. They just allocated an (extra) $800 million to the program and at least $100 mil was for critical needs (e.g. medical) facilities. https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/california-appr...
- Food waste from freezers and refrigerators
- Candle use increasing risk of fires
- Generators being purchased that will largely end up collecting dust or being returned
- Loss of business at local stores/restaurants/bars/etc
What else?