Communication breakdown caused Tuesday power outage in Healdsburg, other cities amid record heat
Miscommunication, rather than California’s overstressed electric grid, led to the power outage affecting several hundred homes in Healdsburg on Tuesday evening amid record-breaking heat.
The city was among a handful of others in the state to institute brief blackouts at the direction of the Northern California Power Agency, a nonprofit joint powers authority that coordinates energy delivery for 16 locally owned electric utilities, including Healdsburg.
While the state’s grid manager, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), issued an evening warning that blackouts could start at any time, it was ultimately able to avoid outages even amid record demand on the grid as triple-digit heat hit much of the state.
However, a misunderstanding led the Northern California Power Agency to call for them anyway in several of the cities it serves.
“We fulfilled our obligation to promptly implement the order,” the city of Healdsburg wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday. It added that the power wholesaler acts as the “sole conduit” of orders from the state grid operator for the cities it serves.
“The City has since learned that there may have been miscommunications between CAISO and NCPA and that the directive may have been delivered prematurely. We are actively engaging with NCPA and CAISO to ensure that communication protocols are improved and clarified immediately. We share our community’s frustration with this situation.”
“We have been looking internally just to make sure it was clear on our end and by all accounts it was,” Healdsburg City Manager Jeff Kay said in interview. He did not have further insight into any confusion between the grid operator and the city’s power wholesaler.
“They’ll need to shed some light on that,” he added.
In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, the Northern California Power Agency said its dispatcher mistook a communication from California’s grid operator as a request to shed electricity load and turned to six of its members, Healdsburg among them, to temporarily turn off power to some customers.
“In a crisis environment, there are always opportunities for lessons to be learned,” Northern California Power Agency Chair and Healdsburg Council member David Hagele said in a news release from the power agency. “We look forward to sharing what we’ve learned through this challenging event with other utilities to help create an even more reliable power system for California.”
Healdsburg is the only Sonoma County city to operate its own municipal electric utility. Healdsburg’s Electric Utility Department procures power via the Northern California Power Agency and operates and maintains energy within the city, serving roughly 12,000 residents.
“It’s a great thing,” Kay said. “We have power that is way cheaper than PG&E.”
Tuesday’s outage affected 300 to 350 homes in one residential zone — “Block 1,” taking in blocks along Parkland Farms Boulevard and Canyon Run. The blackout lasted roughly 30 minutes, starting just after 6:30 p.m.
“We got a 5 or 10-minute warning it was likely to happen, and then boom, the power went out,” said Dori Smith, a Healdsburg resident who lost power. She had bought a portable phone charger after the city’s last blackout so she felt prepared.
Given the news of the last couple of days, she “was and wasn’t expecting it,” Smith said. “Now it looks like it was cut off by mistake, so oops.”
Kay said he wasn’t aware of any such power shut-offs in error in the past. “We set a record statewide in terms of demand on the grid so this is all pretty unprecedented,” he added.
The soaring temperatures that set records Tuesday included a high of 115 degrees in Healdsburg, as officials were urging residents to conserve as much energy as possible given demand on California’s maxed-out grid, which topped out above 52,000 megawatts.
While onshore winds helped cool much of Sonoma County after a mid-afternoon peak, the state’s grid operator escalated to a “level 3” emergency warning at 5:17 p.m., putting utilities on the verge of implementing blackouts that could have affected millions of Californians.
For all but Healdsburg and a few other cities, including Alameda and Palo Alto, those blackouts never came.
Elliot Mainzer, president and CEO of the California Independent System Operator, told the LA Times, that residents’ energy usage reductions after receiving the state’s emergency alerts response brought the grid back from the brink.
The grid operator called off Tuesday’s emergency alert at 8 p.m.
The Northern California Power Agency said it was the first time the grid operator had issued a level 3 warning using new emergency alert protocols in place as of May 1.
“An internal inquiry of the disconnect that occurred … continues, and immediate measures have been taken to assure the protocols are clear to all involved, and are carefully adhered to during today’s serious ongoing heat event and into the future,” the statement said.
With much of California still in the grip of extreme heat Wednesday afternoon, the grid operator issued another, less severe, alert asking consumers to “lower demand on the system” by reducing energy use between 4 and 9 p.m. to avoid overloading the system and any potential outages.
If additional rolling outages are required, Healdsburg will begin with Block 2, in the central part of the city, officials said.
“In Your Corner” is a new column that puts watchdog reporting to work for the community. If you have a concern, a tip, or a hunch, you can reach “In Your Corner” Columnist Marisa Endicott at 707-521-5470 or marisa.endicott@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @InYourCornerTPD and Facebook @InYourCornerTPD.
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