Rolling Blackouts & the Effects on Retail

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Alpha8472
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Rolling Blackouts & the Effects on Retail

Post by Alpha8472 »

Rolling blackouts due to a lack of power have hit California for the first time since 2011. The power grid simply cannot handle the increased demand for air conditioning during this unusual heat wave. Power outages will be in the Central Valley and Central Coast.

People without power have fewer options now since the malls are closed, indoor dining is banned, and many stores are closing early. Cities are hesitant about opening cooling centers due to COVID-19. Restaurants have been in trouble, but now they do not have power and will lose their food supplies.

It is truly miserable now. The few stores that are open such as Walmart are more crowded than ever. Now we will have a serious increase in coronavirus cases.
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Re: Rolling Blackouts Hit California For First Time Since 2011

Post by storewanderer »

I do think the power outages last fall were somewhat similar to this... but the timing is different.

Need to get these power grids to work better and have more power given the ongoing increases in electric cars.
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Re: Rolling Blackouts Hit California For First Time Since 2011

Post by Super S »

If I owned a business that relied on electricity and refrigeration, I would seriously be considering installing generators right now. This is a good idea to keep grocery store and restaurant refrigerated/frozen inventory from going bad, but also as so many things are internet and computer based these days, including phones, a power outage renders many businesses inoperable.

Another factor is a reduction in power generation supply. California has seen power plant closures, as has Washington and Oregon. There is a push to shift away from coal and nuclear while not entirely replacing the capacity of closed plants. This is going to put a strain on the power grid. It doesn't help that some areas in California are restricting new development and no longer allowing oil or natural gas installation in some cases, even though this could reduce dependency on the power grid as oil/gas heat will work during a power outage.

I wouldn't be surprised if the rolling blackouts extend to other areas of the country, especially if the restrictions continue and we have long stretches of extreme heat and/or cold weather. This is another factor that could potentially put some unprepared retailers out of business.

I remember a period of time locally where some stores were randomly turning off rows of lights and taking other steps during a power shortage...I wonder if we will see this again.
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Re: Rolling Blackouts Hit California For First Time Since 2011

Post by pseudo3d »

Super S wrote: August 16th, 2020, 8:34 am I remember a period of time locally where some stores were randomly turning off rows of lights and taking other steps during a power shortage...I wonder if we will see this again.
Albertsons did back in 2001, and the knucklehead who ran Albertsons at the time decided to extend it to all the Albertsons stores for a time, making stores that were already struggling against competition even worse by making the store dark and dreary.
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Re: Rolling Blackouts Hit California For First Time Since 2011

Post by klkla »

Alpha8472 wrote: August 15th, 2020, 7:38 pm Rolling blackouts due to a lack of power have hit California for the first time since 2011.
We had rolling blackouts just last year.
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Re: Rolling Blackouts Hit California For First Time Since 2011

Post by Alpha8472 »

Those were planned shut downs to prevent fires. These rolling blackouts were due to the power grid not having enough electricity. This is much worse as there is a lack of power and no warning in advance.

The rolling blackouts first started with the Enron energy crisis.
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Re: Rolling Blackouts Hit California For First Time Since 2011

Post by klkla »

Alpha8472 wrote: August 16th, 2020, 6:38 pm Those were planned shut downs to prevent fires. These rolling blackouts were due to the power grid not having enough electricity. This is much worse as there is a lack of power and no warning in advance.

The rolling blackouts first started with the Enron energy crisis.
These were also planned.

"As temperatures began to rise in California on Friday and again on Saturday, the manager of much of the state’s electric grid called on utilities to cut power to hundreds of thousands of customers.

But the rolling blackouts on those days left some of the state’s energy experts bewildered. They said that the utilities had plenty of power available and that the blackouts weren’t necessary. The grid’s capacity may be tested in coming days as temperatures are forecast to reach into the triple digits again in some places.

“They set it up like this is a historic event,” said Bill Powers, a San Diego engineer who provides expert testimony on utility matters before the state’s regulators. “This should not have triggered blackouts.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/16/busi ... kouts.html
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Re: Rolling Blackouts Hit California For First Time Since 2011

Post by storewanderer »

pseudo3d wrote: August 16th, 2020, 1:32 pm
Albertsons did back in 2001, and the knucklehead who ran Albertsons at the time decided to extend it to all the Albertsons stores for a time, making stores that were already struggling against competition even worse by making the store dark and dreary.
The dark Safeway lifestyle stores accomplished a similar effort to reduce lighting usage with the dark lights around the perimeter.

Albertsons has of course reversed that dim lighting and installed new bright lighting throughout many of the former dark lifestyle stores. So you could say Albertsons learned its lesson about dim lighting and still remembers the lesson.

I wonder how much dimming the lights in a store helps the power grid in a situation like this anyway? I guess every little bit helps...
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Re: Rolling Blackouts & the Effects on Retail

Post by submariner »

I changed the topic in order to keep the discussion relevant to the board. Thanks everyone!
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Re: Rolling Blackouts & the Effects on Retail

Post by Alpha8472 »

Albertsons installed new brighter LED lights due to financial incentives. They got money for converting stores to energy efficient lighting. LED lights use less power and are brighter.

Taking out half the bulbs in a supermarket might save some money, but that could make the store look tired and old. That could cause the store to lose customers.

Several years ago before Safeway had refrigerator lights that turned on due to motion detectors, they had a computer glitch where all the lights in the store were out except for a few spotlights from the Lifestyle decor. You literally could not see the food. You needed a flashlight. There were not even lights in the refrigered cases. They kept the stores open and gave no explanation. I had to use the light from my cell phone to see.
Last edited by Alpha8472 on August 19th, 2020, 11:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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