Brief Power Blackout Hits 5,700 Bay Area Customers
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SAN FRANCISCO — Almost 6,000 customers lost power and California’s power regulator declared a Stage 1 electricity emergency Wednesday afternoon after a major out-of-state power plant went down.
About 5,700 customers in Sunnyvale and Mountain View lost power just after 4 p.m. though all but 60 had power restored an hour later, said Rod Low, a PG&E; spokesman.
The cause of that blackout is under investigation.
Stephanie McCorkle, a spokeswoman for the California Independent System Operator, said the downed plant took 1,300 megawatts of power off the western grid, 900 of which were headed to California. As a result, power reserves fell below 7%.
Power demand peaked at 4 p.m. at 40,985 megawatts McCorkle said, about 1,000 megawatts less than expected.
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