We are still dealing with crushing heat, wildfires and a nagging drought that has lowered hydroelectric generation, but at least government officials say the demand will not exceed the supply of electricity in California this summer.
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From the U.S. Energy Information Administration's latest “Today in Energy” brief examining the reliability of the Golden State's electric grid this summer:
According to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the bulk power system in California is not expected to lose grid reliability this summer, despite a drought . Overall, NERC expects more than 72 gigawatts (GW) of electric generating capacity to be available this summer in the part of the electric grid covering much of California. Summer electricity demand is expected to peak at nearly 53 GW, resulting in a reserve margin of 38% for the region. California's hydroelectric generation varies seasonally. From January 2014 to April 2015, hydroelectricity accounted for 6% to 14% of the state's monthly generation, averaging near 9%.
Click here to read the whole brief and nothing but the brief while I crank up the A/C, open all the windows and crank my new electric lathe up to 11.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.