Electricity power grid lines
Electricity power grid lines infrastructure

A record-setting heat wave made life miserable in much of the West on Tuesday, with California stretching into its second week of excessive heat that taxed the state’s power supply and threatened power shortages that could prompt blackouts while people were desperately trying to stay cool.

The California Independent System Operator (ISO), the entity that oversees the state’s electrical grid, upgradedits Energy Emergency Alert level from 2 to 3, making power outages possible. It had earlier warned there could be “rotating power outages” Tuesday evening. 

“As grid conditions worsened, energy supplies were determined to be insufficient to cover demand and reserves,” Cal ISO said Tuesday evening.  

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