California Faces Decade of ‘Unique’ Wildfire Blackouts

November 22nd, 2019

Via: Reuters:

California utility PG&E Corp has imposed 10 intentional blackouts this year to reduce risks its power infrastructure could spark wildfires and said they will continue for a decade.

PG&E initially said outages would happen only a couple of times a year, but millions of Californians were hit by four massive shutdowns in October alone.

The outages started in June, growing in duration and scale, with the largest in state history occurring on Oct. 26, cutting electricity to around 2.8 million people over five days.

With six of the 10 most destructive fires in California history started by electrical equipment or power lines, PG&E says shutdowns are a needed measure during windstorms. The state’s largest utility filed for bankruptcy in January, citing $30 billion in civil liabilities from blazes, and says it cannot afford further penalties.

The company’s critics say Californians are paying for PG&E’s failure to upgrade infrastructure and want to see the company “harden” power systems, rather than close them down.

Has the United States ever seen anything like this?

Energy experts say the scale of California’s shutdowns appear unprecedented in the United States, where intentional outages usually occur at a power plant threatened by a hurricane or in a localized area ahead of a storm.

“It’s kind of unique to California,” said Glenn McGrath of the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

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