California is currently experiencing its worst heat wave in years– breaking previous temperature records across the state. In Death Valley on Sunday, the area reached 130 degrees Fahrenheit, Santa Rosa reached 103 degrees, while Santa Cruz shot to 107 degrees. Other cities across the state shattered previous temperature records, straining the state’s power grid, ultimately forcing power shut offs.
The strain on California’s grid is due to the high demand for resident’s need for air conditioning to escape the extreme temperatures. The California Independent System Operator or CAISO is the operator for a majority of the state’s power grid, and oversees the biggest electricity providers like PG&E, San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison. On Sunday, CAISO issued a statewide Flex Alert, asking for voluntary electricity conservation to residents through Wednesday, August 19th, to help with the strain on the grid– the organization also informed consumers that they should plan for more potential outages.
Luckily for California residents, batteries or storage help residential customers to keep their lights on during forced power shut offs by taking the strain off the grid, and allowing for the resident to be reliant on the storage installed in their homes when needed. The state’s Self-Generation Incentive Program or SGIP program is currently in full swing to attract homeowners to install their own batteries by providing large rebates (making some transactions almost free-of-cost) in efforts to help residents become more energy independent, and also help take strain off the grid, especially during heat waves or high fire season when demand for more energy use and the possibility of power shut offs are at an all time high.