Surviving the PG&E Power Shutdowns, Part Three
This year PG&E got approval from the California Public Utilities Commission to put into effect its Public Safety Power Shutdown Program. Part One is an overview of the program and how it might affect you.
Part Two tells us about Delta communities and how well prepared they are for power shutdowns.
Part Three, below, addresses how cities and counties are insuring vital infrastructure is available and how they will assist vulnerable populations in the event of possible prolonged power outages.
Helpful Links
City & County
Calaveras County: http://oes.calaverasgov.us/
City of Lathrop: https://www.ci.lathrop.ca.us/
City of Manteca: https://www.ci.manteca.ca.us/Pages/default.aspx
City of Plymouth: http://www.cityofplymouth.org/
Lathrop-Manteca Fire District: http://www.lmfire.org/
Town of Discovery Bay: https://www.todb.ca.gov/district-services
Energy Companies Power Shut-off websites
PG&E, SDG&E, SCE: https://prepareforpowerdown.com/
PG&E Safety Emergency Preparedness Power Shutoff FAQ Page
Generator Appliance Watt Meter: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=generator+Electricity+Usage+Meter&ref=nb_sb_noss
Meet the Authors
Michael Cockrell
Michael Cockrell’s public service career has included law enforcement, water conservation enforcement, and emergency management. After 35-years at San Joaquin County’s Office of Emergency Services (OES), he retired as Director in December 2017. His OES experience between 1982-2017 included a wide range of emergencies and disasters such as floods, earthquake recovery, mass-casualty incidents, train derailments, hazardous materials releases, droughts, extreme heat and cold events. His education includes Associate and Bachelor degrees in Social Science, concentrating in Administration of Justice, and, a Master’s Degree in Public Administration. He has also completed many continued-education courses on administration and emergency management.
Cyndy Green has been intrigued by news since she got a toy printing press as a six year old. She switched to visual story telling at the age of 12 with her first still camera and moved to broadcasting after an internship in 1974. After 28 years in broadcast news and another 8 teaching broadcasting, she still can’t live without a camera in hand and an editing computer nearby, so in retirement she continues creating visual stories.
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Hi Michael and Cyndi,
I haven’t seen many people discussing this issue, so I’m wondering about your thoughts. I know that as we add more intermittent energy sources to our grid (solar and wind), we also have to build out more transmission to attempt to share the intermittency across larger areas. I also know that grid parameters are shifting to a different state of “normal” than we had with a higher percentage of large stable generators. Voltage and frequency are experiencing larger and more frequent swings.
Don’t both of things inherently raise the fire risk posed by our electric grid (by making it both more expansive and less stable)?
If so, is this risk factor being considered by legislators who may be making policy decisions about our energy mix without much technical knowledge of the trade offs?