July 11, 2021 - SACRAMENTO – In response to the growing wildfire in Southern-Central Oregon that is impacting transmission lines used to import energy to California and continued extreme temperatures in the West, Governor Gavin Newsom on Saturday signed an executive order to free up additional energy capacity.

Building on his emergency proclamation yesterday which suspends certain permitting requirements to enable the use of back-up power generation, today’s order allows the emergency use of auxiliary ship engines to relieve pressure on the electric grid.

The California ISO is calling on individuals and businesses to “flex their power” by conserving as much electricity as possible this evening from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services earlier this week deployed firefighting equipment and personnel to Oregon through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact to assist in the response to the Bootleg Fire.

Since last summer, the state’s energy agencies have taken swift action to ensure grid reliability – both this summer and into the future – to build the state’s climate resilience. This includes requiring utilities to procure additional energy resources to meet forecasted demand during extreme weather, bringing on additional storage and launching the revamped “Flex Your Power” campaign to help California conserve energy.

The text of the executive order can be found here.
Source: Office of the Governor