(Bloomberg) -- The California Independent System Operator, which runs most of the state’s power grid, says it expects to end an energy emergency in a matter of hours, as electricity demand and supply remain stable.
The organization warned of a potential power shortage earlier on Wednesday evening local time, saying a fire in the north of the state was threatening imports into the network. With the grid now stable, Caiso is expecting to end the alert at midnight local time on Thursday, said spokesperson Gary Delsohn, adding that the operator forecasts lower loads for the day and is currently not anticipating the need to issue another emergency alert soon.
The grid manager issued a ‘restricted maintenance operations’ notification for Thursday, which warns utilities and transmission workers to avoid taking grid assets offline amid high demand.
Spot power in Los Angeles rose to about $1,112 a megawatt-hour around 7:30 p.m., five times higher than the day-ahead price for the same hour. Electricity flows into the grid were slow to rebound in the evening peak, nearly touching just half the levels of the day before at 7:15 p.m., Caiso data show.
Northern California has seen triple-digit Fahrenheit temperatures this week, and the National Weather Service has a heat advisory in effect for Sacramento and surrounding areas until Wednesday evening.
--With assistance from Mark Chediak, Brian Eckhouse, Naureen S. Malik and Dan Murtaugh.
(Updates throughout with latest notices from Caiso)
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