It was 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 6, and Californians were using more electricity than ever before. Soon the sun would begin to set, taking solar energy production with it. If things got bad, the operator might have to order rolling blackouts, which would plunge hundreds of thousands of people into darkness and turn off everything from air conditioners to lifesaving medical equipment.
Conditions were not promising. Out on the deck of the state grid operator’s headquarters in Folsom (Sacramento County), the mercury reached 116 degrees — close to an all-time record for Northern California. CEO Elliot Mainzer had never felt anything like it. “The heat was just infernal,” he recalled.
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