Updated Dec. 12
By Jason Fordney
CAISO on Monday continued an electric transmission emergency in Ventura County because of raging wildfires in Southern California that have forced the evacuation of almost 200,000 people and destroyed more than 1,000 structures. The emergency was extended until midnight Dec. 12.
As of 9:30 p.m. Monday, Southern California Edison said, the Thomas fire was causing intermittent outages and power surges in the Santa Barbara area, potentially affecting up to 85,000 customers. In the Ventura area, 2,393 customers were without power.
On Thursday, ISO spokesman Steven Greenlee told RTO Insider that the Thomas fire was a threat to four 230-kV lines in the Ventura area “and the fire is burning underneath the lines as we speak. But the lines remain in service.”
Rye Fire in Santa Clarita | SCE
In response, CAISO invoked its capacity procurement mechanism (CPM) to dispatch about 614 MW of local generation positioned to provide power should the lines go down, Greenlee said. The CPM units came online at about 2:30 p.m. Dec. 5 and are compensated outside the ISO’s normal market operations.
The Rye and Creek fires in northern Los Angeles County were considered a minimal threat to high-voltage lines in those areas, but Greenlee said CAISO was watching them closely.
Those fires have since been 90% contained, but the Thomas fire has grown to engulf 230,000 acres, making it the fifth largest in state history.
“The [Thomas] fire experienced extreme fire behavior with rapid rates of spread due to the predicted strong Santa Ana winds,” the state’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said.
Winds in the Santa Monica Mountains in Ventura County sustained speeds of 66 mph and gusted up to 85 mph. The agency is providing regular updates on the fires.
Red icons show active fires as of Thursday morning, black icons show fires in June-October 2017 | Google Maps and CalFire
“Damage assessment teams have not been granted access to fire-damaged areas of the Thomas fire,” SCE said in a statement last week. “When they gain access, progress of their work will be determined by weather conditions, terrain and the movement of the fires.” The utility is also providing updates on its website.
The cause of the fires has not been determined.
Pacific Gas and Electric is facing lawsuits for a separate set of large fires in October, but the cause of those fires is still under investigation as well. (See Wildfires Color California PUC Utility Decisions.) The California Public Utilities Commission recently denied San Diego Gas & Electric cost recovery for other destructive fires in 2007. (See Besieged CPUC Denies SDG&E Wildfire Recovery.)
