SACRAMENTO, California — California energy exports helped keep air conditioners on across the West as electricity demand climbed to a new record amid last week’s heat wave, the California Independent System Operator announced Monday.
The state even exported more energy to the Western Interconnection — the shared grid for 14 states plus parts of Canada and Mexico — than it imported for several hours on July 8 and 9, according to a CAISO blog post. Demand peaked July 10, beating a previous record set Sept. 6, 2022, when California stood at the brink of rolling blackouts.
The Western power grid’s ability to handle the demand without major outages demonstrates its resilience even as a number of states — led by California — pursue transitions to 100 percent renewable energy.
While the West-wide grid recorded a new peak of about 168 gigawatts at 5:10 p.m. local time on July 10, California’s grid did not. Demand reached about 44 GW in California at 7 p.m. on July 11, below its September 2022 peak of 52 GW. But the grid operator did contend with multiple wildfires and an earlier-than-usual spike in heat-related energy demand.
