The Pacific DC Intertie, (PDCI) a 500-thousand volt transmission line that runs between Southern Oregon and Southern California suddenly and unexpectedly dropped out of service just before 4:00 P.M. today. The loss of more than 2,800 megawatts of power coming into Southern California, coupled with the area’s high demand required a reduction in system load to keep the grid in balance. Loads in southern California were running about 2,000 megawatts higher than anticipated due to temperatures that were up to 14 degrees higher than forecast.
No details are available yet about what caused the PDCI to trip off line.