SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Due to the ongoing heatwave, California has once again extended a statewide Flex Alert.
For the ninth day in a row, the state is asking people to reduce their energy use to avoid rolling blackouts.
"We shaved off maybe one to two gigawatts as a result of these kinds of actions," said Michael Davidson, an assistant professor in engineering and public policy at UC San Diego.
Davidson said people are usually asked to conserve energy from 4 p.m. - 9 p.m. because that's when solar power production starts to decline while demand remains high.
"It's still hot out, so people are still running their AC. They're also coming home from work plugging in their electric appliances, charging their vehicles," he said.
When it comes to home appliances, Davidson said people shouldn't worry too much about unplugging TVs or microwaves.
"Technology has improved substantially, so those vampire loads are really not the things that's going to cause the grid to break," Davidson said.
Instead, using power-hungry appliances during peak usage hours of the day can stretch the grid thin.
According to Silicon Valley Power, certain central ACs use 3 kilowatts per hour, a clothes washer can use 2.3 to 6.3 kilowatts per load, and a dryer can use 2.5 to 4 kilowatts per load.
"Say a half a million Californians all decided to plug in those things all at once, that's a couple of gigawatts of power right there," Davidson said.
During the Flex Alert hours, people should avoid doing laundry or charging their electric cars.
If you have air conditioning, turn the thermostat to 78 degrees or higher and turn out any unnecessary lights.
"One to two gigawatts makes a huge difference on that margin when we're looking at this very tight condition," Davidson said.
Thursday's Flex Alert is from 3 p.m. - 10 p.m.
