Rolling Blackouts, and Our Backup Generator
In the Summer of 2020 Californians experienced rolling energy blackouts. According to Utility Drive, Californians increased their average energy consumption to counteract the effects of a once in a 30-year heatwave. To place the blame solely on Californians looking to keep their homes chilled in a heatwave would be dubious at best, and malicious at worst. According to a report filed by the California Independent System Operator (CISO), California Public Utilities Commission, and the California Energy Commission (CEC), the California grid was incapable of storing the energy required. From the report:
Some practices in the day-ahead energy market exacerbated the supply challenges under highly stressed conditions.
Furthermore, the report also concludes that California’s green energy generation was inadequate for the increased energy demands:
In transitioning to a reliable, clean, and affordable resource mix, resource planning targets have not kept pace to ensure sufficient resources that can be relied upon to meet demand in the early evening hours. This made balancing demand and supply more challenging during the extreme heat wave.
With the failures in infrastructure and the inability to keep up with demand, up to 3.3 million homes experienced a blackout. Reading the above information about the California blackouts, it’s easy to get discouraged. Correcting major infrastructure issues isn’t an overnight fix. California citizens could (and should) assume that the energy grid is not prepared for long-term hot weather spikes. In other words, hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Coincidently during this period, we began renovations on the warehouse that would eventually become Wine Vault Napa Valley.
Knowing this we felt it was essential to invest in a backup generator. But why? Among other things, wine is a long-term investment, one that relies on excellent unimpeded storage conditions for an extended period of time. While 55° is not cold enough to store other food products like dairy, it’s the perfect temperature to ensure wine stays better for longer.
To give a hypothetical situation, let’s say the warehouse didn’t have a backup generator, and we experienced a blackout. Let’s also assume the grid was overwhelmed like it was back in 2020, caused largely by increased usage due to high temperatures. Lastly, we also have to assume the power has been out for a while. A few things would happen:
Due to a large amount of insulation, the warehouse temperature would slowly rise eventually reach the outside temperatures.
Once the temperature of the wine increases above 55°, the compounds in the wine itself start to change. Simply put, the flavor of the wine starts to change. The longer the wine remains at a higher temperature, the faster the wine ages.
Think about wine on a rack at home. 75° degrees for a short period won’t spoil wine, but its lifespan will be short in comparison to wine stored in excellent conditions. So, what happens if the warehouse reaches 90° or 100° degrees?
3. As the internal wine temperature changes, the cork begins to shrivel and shrink. As a result, sugars can begin to separate from the wine, and a syrupy substance can begin to seep out the top of the bottle.
At this point, wine is ruined. The flavors are beyond repair, the structural integrity of the bottle is compromised, years of work are wasted, and one less bottle of wine can be enjoyed!
Fortunately, that hypothetical situation is not a worry for us. With an energy grid as unpredictable as California’s, we felt it was essential to invest in safeguards that protect our client’s wine. If we ever experience a power outage, our generator will automatically start and ensure that our client’s wine remains at a perfect 55° while we wait for an end to the outage. Just one more step we felt we had to take for our peace of mind, and the peace of mind of everyone who stores with us!
-Luke Floyd