Dramatically illustrating the gap between California's demand for electricity and its generating capacity, the state on Wednesday ordered long-threatened mandatory rolling blackouts for the first time since California's energy crisis began last summer.
For weeks the California Independent System Operator, the Sacramento-based agency that manages the capacity and flow of the state's power lines, had staved off blackouts by cobbling together enough energy from municipal utilities and out-of-state suppliers. But when reserves dipped below 1.5% early Wednesday, Cal-ISO ordered utilities in northern California to reduce usage by 500 MW in 60-minute to 90-minute blackouts. By Wednesday evening Cal-ISO declared a temporary respite on outages, but warned that more are likely.