(Bloomberg) -- California will face some of the year’s hottest weather starting this weekend, which will likely tax its electric grid.
An excessive heat watch reaches from Oregon to Arizona, covering a large part of central and coastal California, according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures could reach into the 100s Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) across much of central California and reach into the 90s in Los Angeles.
“They are going to have a huge power demand right across the grid and they may need to go with rolling blackouts,” said Jim Rouiller, lead meteorologist with the Energy Weather Group. “All the major urban centers in California are going to have intense heat wave conditions unabated right through the weekend into next week.”
In anticipation of the heat wave, the state’s main grid operator has called for restricted maintenance on power plants and high-voltage transmission lines to ensure they’re available as temperatures rise.
“We are closely monitoring the situation,” said Anne Gonzales, a spokeswoman for the California Independent System Operator.
Energy demand tends to jump along with temperatures as consumers rely on air conditioning to cool off. Because overnight temperatures in many places will remain in the 80s, round-the-clock demand is likely to stay high. With so many people working from home because of Covid-19, demand could be even higher.
The grid operator can take a number of steps to minimize the risk of planned power outages, including asking customers to conserve electricity during the hottest period of the day, Gonzales said. It hasn’t had to intentionally cut power due to excess demand since 2001 during the state’s energy crisis, according to California ISO data.
The heat is being pushed along by the Sonoran High, a dome of high pressure across the Southwest that is keeping temperatures hot and preventing the cooling effects of the regional monsoon to take hold, Rouiller said.
More than 76% of the 11 western states is abnormally dry and drought covers more than 62% of the region, according to the U.S Drought Monitor.
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