Got a panic-inducing call from PG&E about rolling blackouts. Visited https://www.pge.com/rollingblackouts. Tracked down our outage block and discovered we are among 90 blocks that might experience a blackout of 1-2 hours between 6 and 9 pm.
That’s not very informative (to put it mildly). Luckily someone on Twitter posted a copy of the official California Independent System Operator (CAISO, ISO) release. I’ve included the entire file below. I urge everyone to read it rather than rely on my interpretation.
But here’s the short version. The ISO plans to raise the alert level to 2 from 4 to 9 pm. (I’m writing this at 4:18 so level 2 is already in effect.) They estimate that alert level 3 will be called at 5:30. When (if?) it hits level 4, rolling blackouts become mandatory. For more information visit the CAISO website. For those who don’t want to click the link, here’s an entertaining graph.
That line sloping up and above all the others is natural gas. Way to go, California.
My advice? Get as many bottles of wine as you can into your fridge now. If you prefer beer or some other painkiller, go that way. We’re having tuna salad sandwiches for dinner with a brie-French bread appetizer. And large quantities of sauvignon blanc. We recommend Joel Gott.