A few days ago, a notice was hung on our door from Rocky Mountain Power that our power would be shut down tomorrow from 9 am to 3 pm.
Given that today we are in an excessive heat warning and tomorrow a heat advisory, with a forecast high of 97˚F, this seems like an incredibly foolish time to shut down power. We have options to leave the house during that period, but I wonder about neighbors and the notice warns that "unexpected difficulties may extend the outage."
Although they claim that "poor weather may cause the work to be cancelled or postponed," this has not happened yet. I checked with Rocky Mountain Power via Twitter last night and they are still planning on shutting down the power. Their response..."sorry for the inconvenience."
Rocky Mountain Power has been slow to respond to climate change, has fought residential solar, and as of last year still got over 50% of their power from coal. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
This will be tough on who can't leave, and on the hottest day of the year so far.
ReplyDeleteThis is negative judgment based on partial information. I once witnessed wires on a transformer smoking due to heavy summer load. Next day, these notices were on our door and crews then worked through the heat to add an additional transformer. They were fast/efficient, and their efforts staved off a potentially longer/more dangerous situation.
ReplyDeleteThe notice was provided a few days ago. It's unclear how essential a swap would need to be if they can wait a few days. Still, you are right that I'm assuming this is not an emergency fix.
DeleteWe received the RMP notice on our door at least a week and a half ago - this was planned well ahead of time.
DeleteI checked with my wife and she also confirms that our notice came over a week ago.
DeleteWe have enough divisiveness in the world without posts like these. As Peter said, RMP will be having crews working outside to repair critical infrastructure, most likely stressed as a result of the extreme heat. Is it an emergency? I don't know. Will you survive today? Yes. Could they have done better? Probably. They are human, and they deserve some gratitude. They did a fantastic job during the pandemic after the windstorm. RMP also has Integrated Resource Plans showing pathways to net zero carbon emissions, early retirement of their coal assets, and have hired a U alum for the specific purpose of deploying low to no carbon technology within their service territory. They are taking an unbelievable shellacking in Wyoming for planned early coal retirements which, unfortunately, will absolutely destroy many rural economies, thousands of high paying jobs, and the tax base for schools. You're going to be without power for a few hours. It's not like your career is ending and you will soon face a massive shortfall of funding for public services like school for your kids, evaporating home equity, etc. which is what hundreds of people are looking at right now. These decisions, and the consequences are not easy and certainly not equal in impact.
ReplyDeleteAs you are learning, possibly the hard way, having roof top solar is useless without grid interconnection. As you said, RMP has meteorologists, planners, and thousands of employees, and billions of dollars in infrastructure to keep the power on that underpins modern civilization. Why would RMP want to cover the cost of all of that to provide power to you for free? That makes no sense whatsoever, and is highly inequitable. They, by law, have to provide you power, and are capped on what they can make as a profit in one of the most highly regulated industries on earth. So, what's wrong with them saying, it's rather inequitable that Jim (or anyone else for that matter) gets a free pass on electricity bills, while we're legally required to go repair infrastructure in 100F+ degree heat, and then pass on those costs to customers who cannot afford to put solar panels on their roof. You may not like RMP's roof top solar views, and they are not 100% correct, but they're certainly valid and you should endeavor to understand the perspective.
Decarbonizing electricity is a must, maintaining reliability is a must, doing it under a warming and seemingly angrier climate is an incredible challenge. Providing reliable electricity is essential, and the only thing I can promise you is that it will become more expensive. Vilifying RMP may make you feel better temporarily, but does nothing to solve the incredibly daunting challenges of our time. It's easy to say that RMP is heartless. There's a lot of folks in Wyoming saying the same thing for a completely different reason. What's a lot harder to do is realize that we're all in this handbag together, and if today's weather is any indication, it's pretty clear where we're going.
It's good to know that if I poke the bear, it roars back.
DeleteI'm sure grateful for RMPs employees, especially in times of stress, but that doesn't mean that the company gets a rubber stamp for taking down power during a heat wave or lack of initiative on climate change. With regards to plans for net zero...that's great, but this is 2021. The alarm has been out about this for a long time and our commitment to more warming in the future is greater because of historical inaction. I hope they get it right this time.
Jim, I'm not saying that they get a rubber stamp, but there is a complexity here that I would like you to acknowledge, but haven't yet. With comments like, "With regards to plans for net zero...that's great, but this is 2021. The alarm has been out about this for a long time and our commitment to more warming in the future is greater because of historical inaction." You do not seem to understand how a public utility works. E.g. in Wyoming there are laws forcing RMP to offer coal plants for sale with the guarantee to buy back the electricity before shutting the plants down. RMP is also owned by Berkshire Hathaway which is one of the largest developers of wind energy in the country, particularly in Iowa, but less so in the west due to permitting issues on federal lands. In fact, there are wind projects in Wyoming tied up in Federal permitting purgatory because the wind turbines and transmission lines have to cross Federal lands. This process has taken over 7 years without resolution and is threatening to bankrupt the project. It has nothing to do with industry inaction.
DeleteSo, before you start dismissing industry, you need to realize something you say all the time regarding pollution in the valley. "We have met the enemy, and the enemy is us." RMP is a PUBLIC utility, regulated by a PUBLIC utility commission, that is subject to laws written by PUBLICLY elected officials, which provides electricity which is a CRITICAL service to the PUBLIC. Do you see a common theme here? We're in this together Jim. Like it or not, we, as a society, get to tell RMP what to do, how to do it, and what the priorities are. We're all guilty and complicit in this together. They answer to many voices. Until we realize that and figure out how to work collaboratively, I don't see much hope to "get it right this time." There are a lot of perspectives on what that looks like.
Not that it seems to matter to anyone these days, but the technology and public will to invest to completely decarbonize doesn't exist as of today. I wish that wasn't the case, but I've spent my professional life dedicated to solutions, and it's not going to be here tomorrow. We all wish it was better.
If we all took the time to understand the limitations of what other people are dealing with, the world would be a better place. We've got enough rock throwers. If you want real change, then learn the facts, participate in the PUC, support technology development, recognize that we're going to have to amend a lot of laws, don't forget about the people who will be left behind in the energy transition, and realize that we're all in this together. Unfortunately casting aspersions at RMP does none of those things and is harmful. It's easy to say "THEY haven't taken action." It's harder, but more accurate and helpful, to say, "WE haven't taken sufficient action." To which I would say, I whole heartedly agree, and it makes me despondent that as a society, we haven't given a higher priority to the issue of a warming climate. It's been a frustrating two decades for me too.
For the record, I don't work for RMP, RMP doesn't sponsor any of my research, and I'm not wealthy enough to own Berkshire Stock outright. But, if I can convince one smart person that decarbonizing the grid is a societal responsibility, not a company responsibility, and that it's really (expletive) hard and complicated then we'll start making some better progress.
Thanks for sharing these perspectives. I recognize what you are saying and indeed in an earlier life I spent a good deal of time serving as a guide to climate science for the Governor (Huntsman), legislature, and various stakeholders. I have met with and participated in panel discussions and other outreach activities with individuals from groups ranging from Utah Clean Energy to the Utah Mining Association, including people like Rich Walje when he was at RMP. My father worked for General Electric in large-steam turbine design and has worked in several Utah and Wyoming power plants.
DeleteMy perspectives are products of my experiences, but further discussion here via ascii characters is not going to be productive. I will be giving your comments some thought, will be considering them in the future, and appreciate your input.
700mb temperature came in at exactly 20.0C at KSLC, which appears to be the second highest ever. No wonder we tied our all-time record of 107.
ReplyDeleteOne curiosity - that sounding also included over 500 J/kg of CAPE with no inhibition, but very little convection formed this afternoon even over the mountains. Is that simply because we're right under this death ridge, or are there other factors at play here?
I suspect two issues at play. First, the CAPE is based on low-level parcels (surface or 861 mb which is very near the surface) where the specific humidity was higher. Second, parcel theory assumes no entrainment.
DeleteAny thermal in the boundary layer today would become diluted with drier air, which would reduce both the CAPE and the depth of positive area. I suspect this contributed to the "cumulus patheticus" rather than deep convection.