California is in the midst of a record-breaking winter heat wave. And when the thermometers tick up, so does energy demand due to electricity-hungry air conditioners.
The state’s grid operator, the California Independent System Operator, logged a peak demand of 35,000 megawatts of electricity on Thursday, a 24 percent increase from the high on the same day last month. The spike underscores the outsize strain that cooling offices and homes places on California’s electricity system.
And CAISO’s meteorology team is forecasting a hot summer to come, which will only increase the challenges for state energy leaders as they work to keep the grid online during high-demand days.
Enter Commissioner Andrew McAllister from the California Energy Commission.
