Under the fresh new provisions for two- and one-day advance notices of potential rolling blackouts, California’s transmission grid operator, Cal-ISO, issued warnings Monday for later this week of potential rolling blackouts. None were needed Monday as temperatures in the inland valleys soared statewide, driving peak demand to 37,200 MW, about 1,000 MW higher than forecast. The warnings automatically terminated, however, when no follow-up 24-hour notice was issued.

Cal-ISO was forecasting even higher peaks Tuesday of 38,745 MW, by far the largest peak of the year if it is reached, and a peak demand of 39,700 MW is forecast for today. Nevertheless, supplies were sufficient on Tuesday for the Cal-ISO to refrain from making another advance warning under the emergency executive order issued earlier in the month.

Planned and forced power plant outages totaled about 3,800 MW on Monday and 3,700 MW Tuesday, with about half being unplanned or “forced.” That is significantly lower than the 8,000 to 12,000 MW out of service on any given day before June, the traditional start of the four-month air conditioning load that brings the largest peak demand on hot days throughout the state.

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