CA Power Grid still lacking

Governor Schwarzenegger has more ammo in his arsenal to push the Legislature to reconsider his plans for reforming California's electric system--a new report points out just how fragile it is.

“If a large area of California is hot and there is also demand on the energy grid throughout the western U.S., these conditions will likely lead to blackouts,” says Norm Miller, a Berkeley Lab climatologist who examined the impacts heat extremes will have on the Golden State’s energy demands.

Miller presented the study Sept. 15 at the 2nd Annual Climate Change Research Conference and the First Scientific Conference of the West Coast Governors’ Global Warming Initiative, which was held in Sacramento Sept. 14-16. The research is funded by the California Energy Commission and the California Environmental Protection Agency as part of the West Coast Governors’ Global Warming Initiative. In addition, Miller and colleagues are working on two other studies as part of the Governors’ Global Warming Initiative: an analysis of long-term, multi-decade droughts in California, and the likelihood of storm surges and flooding in Northern California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region, where the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers drain into the San Francisco Bay.