The first guest on the subject is Allison with the San Diego gas electric. Welcome to the program. Thank you for having a. The state report says the depletion of the storage capacity will leave powerplants without a crucial source of natural gas. How much to San Diego's electricity supply depend on gas store their? Back according to a report, the main focus was on the LA basin. They are the ones primarily using the storage regarding gas. If there comes a time this summer that they see electric shortages because gas? We could see a cascading effect in San Diego. That is because our grid is managed by the state agency called the California operator. They are managing the grid making sure everybody has reliable power. We could see effects in San Diego. We will possibly getting the fallout of what happens in LA? It could happen. That is why we are working to take precautions. We do this every summer to look at how we can provide customers with the ways they can conserve, look at Anna dream efficiency measures and take advantage of customer programs that will allow them to cut electricity use when we needed and keep the grid stable. When they went off-line, we were warned that we might have power blackouts in the summer. That has not happened. Is this gas storage problem a greater threat? To the overall Southern California Southern -- power supply? It can be a threat the summer. That is why we're taking cautious now. Every utility does make summer plans for the he waves there could be transmission emergencies that come up that cause a problem. We are taking extra precautions now, especially with the workshop to make sure we are collaborating talking to each other on the to ensure we do not get in a situation that will cause electric shortages the summer. If blackouts have to be called the summer, how to work? Who makes the decision? How does the public find out? Back the top priority is to make sure we are able to deliver the most reliable power. If something happens, we make sure to communicate with customers via weaves the -- websites and social media. We let customers know they can go online to the website to find out any information on how to save energy but we will make sure to put the messages out to the media so customers are aware of what are going on in the region. How much leadtime do you expect people would have? Is something happens, the operator would be making the call. They would be calling to us to drop any load at the moment, if it came down to it. We could know as little as within minutes that we need to shut a load in order to keep the grid in a stable position. It usually goes by circus. At this point, we wouldn't have any speculation on who, what, when. That is the reason why we're planning today. I'm here to explain what we are doing and how we will communicate to customers to make sure that does not happen. The report that was issued by the state agencies said these would be scheduled electrical blackouts. How would they be scheduled if there is only a couple of minutes notice? Back at this time, since the report was just out, we will go over things in the workshop. There is more direction information tomorrow. We will be sure to communicate any type of outcome that the workshop brings to the customers. Los Angeles is thinking about -- they would be impacted the most by this shortage -- they are thinking about using hydroelectric power generation as an alternative if they need to do so. Are you exploring alternatives if -- to keep up our supplied if we are you know, part of this rolling blackouts scenario? As a last month, we report that we connected a little over 80,000 customers with solar. That will help in the summer months. As the evening goes on and we are continuing to see peak system demand rise, we will need to account and provide that energy to our customers and renewable energy drops off anemia hours. That is why we have a natural gas generating fuel. We have renewables online and natural gas generating plants. That will provide the balance in the mix that provides energy to our customers. Natural gas made a problem. It may be a problem. We will have a number of facilities online. We hope that we will not have issues. You guys are part of separate energy. What is the company saying about with the facility will be back at full storage capacity? Back at this time, it is an uncertainty as far as operating status. We have not been permitted to inject any more gas until safety measures have taken place. We do not have a definitive schedule and that. As soon as we do, we will the public. At this time, it is uncertain when we will have full capacity. Thank you very much.
You are not convinced that the reduce capacity of last door it should result in any blackout anywhere the summer. Can you explain why that is? Yes. The primary mode for receiving gas supply into San Diego is flowing gas on the public. It is not gas storage. Over the last decade, at no time has the demand during the summer, specifically in the LA basin, exceeded the flowing Pasadena pipe. There is no obvious reason that we need storage at all in the summer time to meet the need. Another factor, storage is primarily used in the winter historically to meet space heating load. Summer is when they are filling storage. Typically storage is a drawl on the gas system. It is not a supply. It is something that has to be filled in the summer from the winter. I do think this is an exercise in crime will. The issue is, are we safe? It like. A Catholic again. There are health and safety issues. There are methane emission issues. Public attention is being diverted with this call of being worried about blackouts. What you are saying is, the possibility of a blackout that has been released by several state agencies, is putting pressure on regulators to ease the comprehensive tests that are going on at the storage facilities to make sure that the wells will not leak again? I don't think it is so much to put pressure on regulators not to the test. The test will go forward. I think it is to take the focus off, should we shut this down and say we cannot do that because we need the gas for summer peak. It is my opinion that we do not need the gas for the purpose. Having articles appear all over the state same time with the same blackout, as a tried-and-true strategy, it gets which what. The desire is to keep the facility operational. What the state agencies want, it is mainly for people to conserve. That is a pretty benign message no matter what the motive might be. Conservation method is ongoing. What is the headline? The headline is blackout or it is eminent if we do not keep this online. It is taking everyone's focus off of the huge methane leak and the reason it happened which was an adequate maintenance in the field. There are rather fields in the LA basin that are just as all. What is there condition? What is their potential to leak? Back is what you are saying that you will be surprised if you see any kind of rolling blackout needed the summer? Back we will not see rolling blackouts the summer. This is a created issue to assure that the public and elected officials support the restart of this. We do not need to restart this. Is a fortifying point. Arizona is highly dependent on gas. Nevada is dependent on gas. They have no storage. They have it -- they rely on gas contracts to ensure reliability. They have reliability. I will have to edit there. I've been speaking with real powers. I want to think you and you are listening to KPBS Midday Eddition .
State officials announced this week that a massive natural gas leak last year near Los Angeles could lead to 14 days of power outages this summer in Southern California, including San Diego County.
San Diego Gas & Electric responded on Tuesday to the announcement in a news release that acknowledged that every summer there is a possibility of power outages when there are “prolonged periods of heat, high energy use and lack of energy supply.”
RELATED: Officials: Gas Leak May Cause Blackouts In California
Problems at the Aliso Canyon natural gas field could make that even more challenging this summer, the utility said.
“This summer, with the potential for reduced natural gas supplies to fuel electric generating plants, we are on heightened alert. This concern is exactly why we are taking precautions now, including plans to increase communication to customers about conservation measures and reduce-your-use-programs,” SDG&E said.
On KPBS Midday Edition on Thursday, a spokeswoman from the utility and an energy expert talk about what people can expect this summer.
