California experiences outraging heat waves, sees blackout possibilities; Musk suggests solution

California saw scorching heat waves hovering over them on Tuesday. The state’s authority raised the emergency status of the state’s power grid to the highest. This paved ways for possible blackouts. 

Throughout California, during the last 24 hours, temperatures soared above 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 Celsius). Consequently the grid operator the residents of the state for possible controlled outages. 

According to a statement by PG&E Corp., which is said to be the state’s largest power company, it had informed around 525,000 homes and businesses that could face power loss for up to two hours. 

Electricity usage touched a benchmark of 52 gigawatts on Tuesday. This statistic broke the record which stood since 2006, as per data by Caifornia Independent System Operator. As of 7:15 p.m. local time, the grid operator had not ordered rolling blackouts. However, the possibility of the same stood still. 

On Tuesday, the Governor Gavin Newson mentioned in a Twitter video post that they are moving towards the worst phase of the ongoing heat wave. He added that the risk for outages is real and immediate. 

Elon Musk, the billionaire took to Twitter and commented on the concern. Elon Musk in his tweet mentioned batteries as a solution to the problem. He expressed that the situation sees requirement of more solar + batteries. He added that batteries are a great option when it comes to dealing peak demands. 

More solar + batteries needed. Batteries are great at dealing with peak demand.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 6, 2022