California urges to save electricity during heat wave, prices soar Reuters

(Reuters)-U.S. electricity prices soared on Wednesday as households and businesses turned on air-conditioning to avoid another heat wave, prompting California grid operators to urge protection.

The United States has been plagued by extreme weather events this year, including the freezing of Texas in February that caused millions of people to lose power and record high temperatures in the Pacific Northwest this summer.

According to AccuWeather, the high temperature in Portland, Oregon on Friday is expected to reach 102 degrees Fahrenheit (39 degrees Celsius), where the normal high temperature at this time of year is 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

Meteorologists also predict that the weather in central California will be hotter than normal, where temperatures usually exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

California ISO, the grid operator in most parts of the state, issued a flexible alert, urging consumers to save electricity on Wednesday night to reduce grid pressure and avoid blackouts when the solar energy stops working under the sun.

In August of last year, a heat wave forced California utilities to implement rotating power outages, causing more than 400,000 customers to lose power when there was a supply shortage.

The next day’s electricity price at the Washington Center in Columbia soared to US$489 per megawatt hour on Thursday, the highest level since a record of US$891 in March 2019. In 2020, the average electricity price for the center is $25.

California ISO predicts that electricity demand will reach peaks of 41,185 megawatts (MW) and 41,858 megawatts on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. This is lower than the peak of 43,193 MW on July 9 and the all-time high of 50,270 MW in July 2006.

One megawatt can power about 200 homes in summer.

ISO has stated that it expects to have approximately 50,734 megawatts of supply available this summer, but some of it is solar and cannot be used when the sun goes down.

ISO’s solar installed capacity in June was 14,628 MW, and its power generation in May reached a record 13,205 MW.