Published: Tuesday, March 16, 2021
Los Angeles at night. Photo credit: Ken Ross/VWPics/Newscom
Grid experts say California's history of extreme weather blackouts holds lessons for other states. Los Angeles is pictured at night in this 2014 photo. Ken Ross/VWPics/Newscom
California energy bosses don't want the distinction, but they're among the country's top experts in electricity blackouts.
Rolling power outages hit the Golden State last summer when electricity supplies ran short of demand in a record-shattering heat wave. Residents in recent years have also lost electric service, sometimes for days, when utilities cut power to prevent wildfires.
The emergencies have spurred California policymakers and utility executives to adopt new strategies to prevent power outages and limit their impact in the face of climate change and extreme weather. Those tools may be pivotal for other states as they look at how to avoid grid disasters like Texas' devastating blackouts last month, when more than 4 million homes and businesses lost electricity during a severe winter storm.