OK - IF any of you have been in Number Crunching, I'm sure you saw Unixchick's Post about the upcoming POWER OUTAGE tonight in PG&E covered areas!

This outage "COULD" hit tonight at Midnight, and "COULD" last for DAYS!!!

Several Counties are being effected by this, including Alameda, (UCB), and Contra Costa, (me, my family, my neighbors, my friends...), and MANY more!

Solar users are NOT immune! This is because PG&E REFUSES to let customers go "Off Grid"! So, EVEN IF you have Solar, you are STILL ON GRID AND IF Power gets cut by PG&E your Solar gets cut TOO!

So, IF the SETI Servers go Offline tonight after Midnight Pacific Time, DON'T expect a quick fix! e-Mailing Eric WON'T help, 'cause he'll be Powerless, too!


Good Luck everyone! God bless!

I HOPE to be here tomorrow, but IF I'm NOT and the Servers ARE DOWN, pray for us all whom are unfortunate enough to live in PG&E covered areas...


TL

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TimeLord04
Have TARDIS, will travel...
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So, EVEN IF you have Solar, you are STILL ON GRID AND IF Power gets cut by PG&E your Solar gets cut TOO!

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Time Lord, I don't know where you are getting your information but there are some errors in your statement.
Yes PG&E has issued an alert for areas that potentially could have their power turned off IF winds develop a hazard of starting a fire. Everyone seems to be assuming that if they are in the area that their power will be turned off. No true.
In my work I am in contact with PG&E leadership weekly or more. I have developed a good relationship with some of their Board of directors. I had breakfast with one Friday in San Ramon. I also know all of the regional managers. I spoke with the regional manager for my area just before 5 and he said not to worry. My area will not be losing power. You are correct that in your area, you might. That has not been determined. They gave notice in case they have to turn it off.
But here is the big error in your statement. "EVEN IF you have Solar, you are STILL ON GRID AND IF Power gets cut by PG&E your Solar gets cut TOO!."
That is wrong. Here are California's Solar Regulations. The state controls solar installation, not PG&E. The state requires isolation circuits in case of a power outage. If PG&E cuts your power, the isolation circuit cuts you off the grid. PG&E has no control of your back up system, be it solar, wind, battery, or generator. If you have a permitted system you have an isolation circuit. You may or may not have sufficient power for everything the whole time your power is off, but your system will still work.

Interesting. Listening to the news radio station down in Lower California they made it sound as if it was 100% PG&E was going to cut all the power to everyone at midnight. I guess alarmist click bait happens on the radio too. Then they went on to the Edison warning for three counties down here that stand to be cut, but then they did an interview with an Edison spokesperson that made it plain that cut depended on what wind, temperature and humidity sensors were telling Edison about fire risk. Maybe PG&E needs to work on its press releases and/or get some B-roll interview material available.

As to Solar, I think Scott is talking about buying green power, not having a P-V system on his roof.

Just to make clear it isn't the generation that is being shut, it is just the transmission. The wires from some far point to your neighborhood.

So who lost power?
My work did, but home is still up and running.

No loss of power in N Stockton. Not much wind either.

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Pluto will always be a planet to me.

Seti Ambassador
Not to late to order an Anni Shirt

In the meantime PG&E's Outage Center and CBS's KPIX are reporting on the developing situation. Power outages aren't funny, but much better than the destructive & deadly wildfires the area has known in the past =:/

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Apr 3, 1999 - May 3, 2020

No loss here in Yermo, winds 34mph NE, gusts to 40mph, which is about normal here, no wind just makes it hotter.

Current temp is 86F.

I'm in SCE territory.

SCE was planning some smaller shut downs. Glad you got power.

https://news.berkeley.edu/

12:45 AM PG&E has cut power.

https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/campus-power-outage-closure-october-9-2019

The campus data center can continue to operate for approximately 3 days on emergency generator power.

I'm still with you all... Yesterday, it was announced that Danville was removed from the list of potential outage areas.

Since the original message stated "Wednesday morning, Midnight..." I NOT ONLY turned off my computers, BUT also flipped the SurgeArrest Strip switches to prevent spikes upon power restoration. So, Tuesday night to Wednesday morning, my Hackintosh and my Mac Pro 5,1 were off.

As to the Solar info that I stated, it was described to me in this way... "PG&E does NOT allow people to go 'Off Grid'. In this light, since Solar is 'Always On', IF the grid would ever to go down THEN Solar Power Systems would be turned off, too. This is BECAUSE PG&E DOES NOT want ANY power to be feeding back on the Grid since maintenance crews would be working on said grid." IF PG&E WOULD allow people to go COMPLETELY 'Off Grid, then a Meter would NO LONGER be necessary, and NO MATTER WHAT, the Solar Power System would ALWAYS be 'On'.

IF the above is wrong, and Solar IS allowed to run REGARDLESS of 'On' or 'Off Grid' then I stand corrected. I had heard the above description several years ago, and reconfirmed this with a friend in Woodland, whom told me this was still true. His Solar Power System was installed two years ago.

I'm glad to still be with you all. I hope those without power are safe, and will have power restored soon.


TL

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TimeLord04
Have TARDIS, will travel...
Come along K-9!
Join Calm Chaos

Scott,

Yes, but, that means there is a switch that cuts the feed from you to the neighbors. You can still use the power yourself.

The local fire department may want a switch that cuts it to the building so they can spray water on the fire.

News update from Jeff Cobb re: outage

Large swaths of Northern California, including the UC Berkeley Campus, are under a Public Safety Power Shutoff due to high winds and the associated wildfire risks. Our servers are located in the campus Data Center which is protected by a high capacity UPS. We expect that our servers will remain up for the duration of the outage. Thus far Internet connectivity also remains up although this depends on factors outside of the Data Center.

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All of this and Gasoline approaching $6:00 per gallon in Los Angeles.

Utopia for sure. What a fine kettle of fish you got us into, Ollie .

Gary is correct. Connected to the grid is required. But so is the emergency cut off. The two requirements work together.

Howdy Scott !

Better install a couple of Wind Turbines in your yard - just in case.

All of this and Gasoline approaching $6:00 per gallon in Los Angeles.

$6 per gallon ! that is crazy.

Bill

Paid $4.09/Gal/Regular at the San Ramon Exxon. (Cheapest station in Danville/San Ramon that is close to the house. (COSTCO in Concord is cheaper...))

Every other station in Danville/San Ramon is $4.29 to $4.35/Gal/Regular. Walnut Creek is $4.35/Gal/Regular.

THIS JUST SUCKS!!!

IF I had the money, I'd buy my parents a Generac 22KW Unit for the house... (Runs on Natural Gas.)

Power still, (thankfully), up in Danville.


TL

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TimeLord04
Have TARDIS, will travel...
Come along K-9!
Join Calm Chaos

Power still, (thankfully), up in Danville.


TL

Well glad to hear that !

Bill

My home never lost power on north of the River. Some areas near me did. But Solano is 100% energised.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/10/12/how-pges-power-shutdown-threatened-a-nasa-mission/

Eric had a payload on that. He was keeping us informed on his FB page.