Public Safety Power Shutdowns – An Upside?
In light of the relatively recent wildland fire epidemic in California and elsewhere, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) the largest Cali investor owned utility (IOU) has filed for bankruptcy. The Governor is calling for greater energy accountability, security and entrepreneurship such as proposals to purchase the PG&E transmission and distribution infra-structure. This move would in some minds facilitate a smoother transition to a distributed generation (smart) grid architecture including the formation of many inter-tied (yet independent) regional NGO’s and municipal utilities such as Sonoma Clean Power and SMUD (Sacramento Municipal Utility District).
That’s the BIG picture. But what did we really learn about our safety, security and sustainability during the last couple of PSPS’s? Well for one thing, if you are not prepared, it will likely become VERY uncomfortable over prolonged periods of down time (days). If you didn’t have a fossil-fueled generator of sufficient capacity (with extra fossil fuel) then you probably had to do some horse trading for generator access and outdoor BBQing to avoid wasting all that defrosted (frozen) food. We were starkly reminded of everything that we take for granted on a daily basis like flushing toilets, lights at night, baking, TV, internet, charging our phones, etc. (and how wonderful a hot shower feels). For those that had to pump their own water and feed children and animals of all sizes, their logistics became even more complicated. We were forced out of our comfort zones and had to deal with being and feeling powerless.
Another major bottle neck was at the fueling stations. There were not very many locations able to dispense fuel because they had no back-up generator with pumping capability. It’s obvious to me that one important legislative takeaway from these (ongoing) PSPS events is to require ALL fueling stations to have a 24-48 hour emergency power back-up capability so as not to create immediate public panic because of perceived shortages. I was eerily reminded of waiting in those long gasoline lines of the 1970’s. History repeating itself right before my very eyes!
Perhaps these PSPS events have an upside and should be viewed as “wake-up-calls-to-action” for all of us. Maybe this will be the impetus to motivate Californians to take the initiative and continue to make affordable and incremental renewable energy investments to safeguard their own energy security? Be assured the new normal is more frequent and longer-lasting power outages for various reasons including PSPS during low humidity and high winds, as well as other foreseeable emergency events like earthquakes, floods and terrorism. We need to be prepared and ready for utility outages because they are likely to occur with greater frequency. The affordable path to energy self-reliance is: (1) Conservation, (2) Improved Efficiency, (3) Self-Generation (Solar PV, wind, fuel cells), (4) Back-up Generator (5) Assignment of Critical Loads, and (6) Battery Storage/Management. These subsystems integrated together can be scalable, provide emergency back-up capability and peak load demand (TOU) optimization opportunities.
It is ultimately up to each of us to be ready to deal with these somewhat random and unpredictable events. Emergency preparedness and energy independence are two ways to improve our chances of living to fight another day!
Hey, what do you think?