After blackout debacles in California, Texas, state tells utilities to bulk up for summer

First the power shortages rolled through California. Then massive blackouts crippled Texas.

Now California regulators are telling the state’s largest electric utilities to bulk up for a potentially difficult summer to prevent another wave of power shortages.

In a major plan unveiled Friday, the California Public Utilities Commission’s staff proposed ordering PG&E Corp. and other big utilities to line up significantly more power supplies for the summer.

If adopted by the commission at its March 25 meeting, the plan would require the utilities to have reserve supplies on hand amounting to 17.5% of forecast demand for electricity, a margin of error designed to reduce the likelihood of rolling blackouts again this summer.

The current buffer is 15%.

This would force the utilities to find extra supplies during the “months of concern,” from May to October. PG&E, for example, would have to find an extra 450 megawatts of capacity, the equivalent of one major power plant.

The proposal doesn’t cover utilities such as SMUD in Sacramento that aren’t regulated by the PUC.

Last August, a heat wave that blanketed the West with 110-degree temperatures left California’s grid without enough power, forcing two nights of rolling blackouts. They were the first blackouts caused by power shortages, as opposed to equipment failures or wildfire dangers, since the 2001 energy crisis.

Since then, the state has scrambled to shore up grid reliability, in some cases prompting accusations from environmentalists that the state was compromising its fight against air pollution and greenhouse gas reductions.

In September, state environmental regulators allowed some heavy-pollution gas-fired plants in Southern California to remain in operation beyond their scheduled retirement dates. And a month ago the Public Utilities Commission voted to give utilities wide latitude in procuring more power for this summer. Environmentalists said this could open the door to more fossil fuel generation.

California’s crusade to avoid more blackouts took on greater urgency after a winter storm last month plunged much of Texas into darkness.

Texas’ crisis was largely caused by a deregulation scheme that requires far less planning and preparation than California demands. Still, experts said California should take Texas’ woes to heart and gear up for a hot, difficult summer.

There’s no mention of the Texas debacle in the proposal released Friday.

This story was originally published March 5, 2021 at 3:34 PM with the headline "After blackout debacles in California, Texas, state tells utilities to bulk up for summer."