As temperatures rise, so does energy use. Everyone is trying to stay cool, stay connected, and stay comfortable.

As this happens, it puts strain on our energy grid. Southern California Edison reached out to various agencies, OCSD included, to voluntarily reduce energy usage on Tuesday, August 18 and Wednesday, August 19 to reduce the risk of rolling blackouts.

OCSD was ready.

It is all about being prepared and having a plan in place. First day actions at Plant No. 1 started at 2:30 p.m. and included turning off one of the Steve Anderson Lift Station pumps and diverting flow to Plant No. 2, turning off one blower at activated sludge 2, and configuring the electrical system to allow the Tesla batteries (4.94 megawatt (MW), 32.5 Megawatt hour (MWh)) to offset the entire Plant No. 1 load. The Tesla batteries were programmed to operate during the entire peak power time period versus the normal four-hour period per the Southern California Edison agreement. On Tuesday, when peak power was from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., OCSD was able to run a zero-energy import. On Wednesday, when the peak power was changed to start at 2 p.m. and run till 10 p.m., additional loads were required to be turned off at Plant No. 1 to achieve a zero-energy import.

Plant No. 1 had two central generator engines online at 100% load from Tuesday to Wednesday. At Plant No. 2 three central generator engines were online providing all energy needs. Both plants were using digester gas and supplementing natural gas as needed to keep OCSD energy neutral.

Once these changes went into effect it was about assessing that the process had stabilized, and flows balanced out. OCSD slowly returned plant operations back to normal.

OCSDs efforts were a success and helped avoid additional rotating outages at the beginning of the week caused by the heatwave. Just an example of what a well-oiled machine OCSD is, and how teamwork within and outside of the agency can get positive results for the community