heat

 

The potential for imminent rolling black-outs in California was the last thing East Siders wanted to hear as they hovered in front of their swamp coolers, relying on iced drinks from the fridge
for their survival.

Even up in Mammoth, with projected temps in the mid-80s, this prolonged heat wave is a grind.  While Owens Valley residents think mid-80s looks heavenly, if you’re acclimated to cool summers, the mid-80s is only marginally bearable. As they say, heat is relative.

Following the Alert 3 from Cal-ISO (Independent System Operators), Sierra Wave checked in
with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s public relations person, Jessica
Johnson, to make sure our coolers and refrigerators wouldn’t go dark. Her response: they
won’t.

“LADWP is not part of Cal-ISO.” Johnson stated via e-mail. “LADWP has generation,
transmission and distribution capabilities and are our own balancing authority. However, we
support the state grid (Cal-ISO’s) Flex Alerts and help amplify the message. The ‘rolling
blackout’ information was not sent out by LADWP but by Cal-ISO dependent utilities. While
LADWP has encountered elevated loads during the course of these recent, severe heat days,
LADWP has had sufficient generation to cover the load, plus reserves with some to spare,
enabling LADWP to provide energy to Cal-ISO to assist the state grid.”

This is good news—residents won’t be poached in their own sweat!

 

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