CA is strong in NIMBY, which created strong opposition and costly procedures for utilities performing tree trimming, at times they even needed property owner permission and what their clearance allowance was not ideal. That combined with the California climate, was a bad combination. The laws changed not long ago, but it will take years of work to catch up to the new standards and a significant and ongoing increase in labor. Er... just stick with Acree’s response.
I've been without power for about a week after a storm. Never as a preventative measure in support of a federally managed management program.
Resist you monster. I'm laughing at you west coast asswipes with steaks spoiling over this preemptive strike against electron armageddon.
The PUC in CA is a political office with members appointed by the Governor (Newsom, Brown before him, both Dems). Newsom received a ton of money from PG&E. Those appointed to the PUC did not do their jobs in regulating PG&E. Not to let PG&E off the hook, they are complicit as well, but as mentioned above, when there are laws that make it difficult to fire mitigate for environmental reasons, what the hell?
To be sure someone has done a study contrasting the potential damage of proper fire management vs the actual damage from failure. The snail darter desert tortoise is just as dead.
For sure, lots of studies done in CA. But the results of studies aren't used to make any sort of rational decisions. You have to remember, people in CA do what feels good, like banging your best friend's wife (Newsom did that), not what makes sense. And the corruption is rampant. So when you see Newsom on the presidential ballot in the near future, beware, he's pretty damn slick
I hear a lot about people wanting to leave CA, or walling up those still there to keep them from leaving. Screw that. CA is a beautiful state. Better to send in a well-armed militia to liberate it by pushing out all the lefties that ruined the place to Nevada, or Utah.
Way too many kalitards invaded Utah long ago, that shit needs to be reversed and they can be sent back to that kalifornistan shithole.
Seems they forgot to get batteries. https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2019...anels-dont-work-when-pge-shuts-down-the-grid/
Most grid tie systems don't use batteries because it's not as efficient in converting DC to AC, plus there's the added expense of the batteries and charge controller. The downside is they go offline when the grid is out. This is a UL1741 requirement called anti-islanding, it's to prevent energy from going back on the power lines to protect maintenance workers. I would imagine those affected by the forced outages are going to be totally rethinking a backup power strategy.
More maintenance and space for the batteries also. Grid tie is attractive if you are looking to cut usage but not otherwise. IMO if you wanted to go that route you should have grid tie with a whole house generator. That depends a lot on the area as CA might be using swamp coolers with little heating need. The deep south could do without heating better than cooling and swamp coolers are fairly ineffective. Of course DC will mandate a one solution for all setup one day.