California - PG&E begins to cut power for up to 800,000 Customers

[ATCclears]

PG&E said it anticipates the severe weather to last through midday Thursday, with peak winds forecast from Wednesday morning through Thursday morning and reaching 60 to 70 miles an hour at higher elevations.

The company has said the shut-offs could last for a number of days and would cover parts of 34 of California's 58 counties, a huge swath of the nation's most populous state.

PG&E Starts to Cut Power for Nearly 800,000 California Customers on Wildfire Risk

PG&E has begun to shut off power to hundreds of thousands of people in California as it seeks to prevent its electric lines from sparking more deadly wildfires, in what is believed to be the largest such pre-emptive blackout ever.

www.wsj.com

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[ATCclears]

A related comment from @Howard1955 - sounds like a bit of a panic in California.

What if Venezeula happened here?

I was sitting around with a friend of the family and the topic of SHTF came up. The first thing he said was, "if anything goes down, I'm coming to your house". I looked right at him and told him that he would not get a warm reception and then told him to get off his @ss and do some prepping...

www.northwestfirearms.com

 

[E4mafia]

I got in contact with the monitoring station we use at work which is based out of San Jose. The lady on the phone didnt seem to know anything pertaining if they were impacted but said they would wait on the word and are preparing.

Have fun cali!

 

[ID Bill]

Honestly can't blame PGE. Never did like the company.. but, with all the lawsuits and finger pointing back at them.. I'd probably do the same if it was my company.

 

[Dunes190203]

Haha, their outage map is glacially slow to load.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company

I'm currently down in CA and the NorCal gun guys are reporting the outages in their areas, pretty good sized thread running on Calguns. For some the power went off shortly after midnight.

We've had wind and trees and rural power for over a century. Back in the day stuff happened and people fixed things up and went on. Now everyone is looking for a deep pocket to use as a cash register. No doubt we'll see similar for lost wages, spoiled food, lost business, insurance claims, etc from this planned and announced in advance outage. That's what humans have become.

 

[The Heretic]

Maybe they will learn. Heard a short news snippet on OPB yesterday while driving; mentioned a restaurant that had two commercial gensets, one as the backup for the other. This was in the area impacted by the fires - apparently those people have learned.

In local news, apparently I lost power at home for about five hours. Not sure when, but when I got home all the clocks were down. My stove somehow resets to a remembered time, but it was five hours behind. I thought maybe that it was PGE who had promised (for the second time in five years), some months ago, to come out and re-level my transformer, but they didn't. They gave everybody notice months ago that their trucks would be around inspecting lines/etc., and they then notified me that they would fix my transformer (which is at about a 35* angle about to fall into a hole), but nothing has happened - just like the first time I notified them.

 

[Howard1955]

I think the loss of life that happened last time they had similar circumstances makes it worthwhile to take these precautions. They'll need to do a better job of controlling trees, etc - but for now, this might be the best way to save both property and lives.

 

[robertvarner]

My brother in law is now seeing his investment in a generator paying off. It's purring like a kitten and their lights are the only ones in the neighborhood that are on.

 

[The Heretic]

My brother in law is now seeing his investment in a generator paying off. It's purring like a kitten and their lights are the only ones in the neighborhood that are on.

Everyone on my road (8 families) has a genset. Several have automatic systems, one of which has a battery backup to take the load until the genset is up to speed. Being out in the boonies we loose power several times a year (mostly due to trees/etc. falling on the lines), and in a widespread outage, being sparsely populated, we are the last to get power back.

 

[cigars]

Not to worry, PG&E will somehow find a way to charge extra for non-powered grid maintenance.

 

[ATCclears]

Meanwhile, it is also mating season for tarantula spiders in the Bay area. Watch what you're doing during that power outage...

Don’t Be Alarmed by Armies of Tarantulas. They’re Just Looking for Love.

Warm weather in the San Francisco Bay Area has extended the spider’s mating season, leading to efforts to rehab its image; ‘gentle giants’

www.wsj.com

 

[Camelfilter]

What's the real deal down there?

Sierra club (or other such groups) made it too difficult for the utility companies (regulatory wise) to maintain there rights of way in a safe manner?

...or has PGE actually simply been lax maintaining rights of way, for decades. Now a fire hazard all of a sudden?

These (and similar) have been around for a long while:



Making even remote right of way maintenance cost effective...

 

[CRBMoA]

I have never heard of this system of forest management.

Maybe it IS the best option given the state of lack of timber management, but I am jaded.

I need to find a 16 yr old to tell me what it all means.

 

[Howard1955]

What's the real deal down there?

Sierra club (or other such groups) made it too difficult for the utility companies (regulatory wise) to maintain there rights of way in a safe manner?

...or has PGE actually simply been lax maintaining rights of way, for decades. Now a fire hazard all of a sudden?

These (and similar) have been around for a long while:

View attachment 623373

Making even remote right of way maintenance cost effective...

 

[Dunes190203]

Another map option to track the outages:

PG&E power shutdowns - Google My Maps

October 9, 2019

www.google.com

Interesting how the southern Oregon utilities in the dry corridor north of NorCal manage things without widespread power outages. Sure, the population is lower but any of us who live in the forest can marvel at how the transmission lines wind their way through all those trees to get us power, anything from 500KV down to 12KV. I've seen 12KV fuses pop, fall and start grass fires by my CA place. Put out a few with the tractor myself or called the FD. Doesn't take much. Now they put those wonky reclosers (let's apply voltage again to see if it's really cooked) on the lines in addition to the fuses. PG&E I mean.

Awhile back late last year in a windstorm the 12KV on my back 40 popped so bad that it lit the house up like an arc welder. Cooked the three phase transformers and dumped a bunch of molten debris onto the ground. I disc a safety zone 100' wide back there. Took them eight hours and two crews to fix it. Fortunately I have a dirt road next to the pole line they could work from. I got a sticker on the door a few weeks ago from a PG&E contractor that they were going to be spraying growth hormone on trees adjacent to or in the easement. OK, cool, go for it.

Back in the day they'd spray Simazine and sterilize the easement. The stuff they sell now is nothing like I remember. Even Eucalyptus wouldn't grow. It killed everything. Anyway, the wind is blowing here because well it's fall and weather does what it does, like forever. Heh.

 

[ATCclears]

"outage outrage"

Tesla owners in California get a warning to charge their cars before the power goes out

Power outages happen.

www.fastcompany.com

 

[CRBMoA]

Well, if they run out of juice that should keep them from bursting into flames.

Good Thing, No?

 

[User 1234]

Good point about the Tesla's grid dependency.

 

[CRBMoA]

We have a local motel/restaurant that went big on Telsa marketing and they dedicated 5 parking spaces to the chargers. They NEEDED those spaces, but like Dick's and guns, it LOOKS good!

 

[P7M13]

In local news, apparently I lost power at home for about five hours. Not sure when, but when I got home all the clocks were down.

According to PGE, a construction accident caused the outage.