SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – California power grid operators were able to avoid any rolling blackouts Tuesday night, but a Flex Alert remains in effect amid continued concerns of strain on the state's electricity reserve.
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On Tuesday, peak electricity demand reached 52,061 megawatts — an all-time record high according to the California Independent System Operator. Despite major demand, the power grid held and there were no rolling blackouts.
However, heat-related outages remained an issue — as many Bay Area residents discovered — and Wednesday morning, thousands of residents are still without power. The largest outages are currently in Fremont, Milpitas and San Jose, PG&E reported.
Just before 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, 32,400 customers lost power in the Bay Area, 17,000 of which were in San Jose. The Sun Valley Shopping Center in Concord was forced to close and Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill had to cancel class for the rest of the day. As of Wednesday morning, power was restored for thousands, but about 5,700 customers remain in the dark, KNTV reported.
Tuesday was a record-breaking day of blistering heat all around the Bay Area. "Santa Rosa 115, Napa 114, Livermore was the hottest at 116 and the list goes on," Ryan Walburn, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told KCBS Radio. "It was obviously extremely hot yesterday, one of the hottest days we've ever seen in the Bay Area."
While temperatures may dip in some areas by about 15 degrees Wednesday, multiple regions of the Bay are still forecast to see triple digits with similar weather patterns expected for the rest of the week.
"We're going to see another uptick again on Thursday where we could see temperatures similar to what we saw yesterday, so definitely have another one to two days of some pretty extreme heat," Walburn said.
A Flex Alert will be in effect Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. in an effort to prevent future outages.
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