Item 26 - Adoption of the City of Santa Ana Emergency Operations Plan

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City of Santa Ana Emergency Operations Plan Part I Basic Plan equipment, preventing the power supply from reaching the consumer. In these low -voltage conditions, substations will shut down automatically in order to prevent further system damage. Utility regulations require SCE to have plans in place to mitigate grid reliability impacts. With the de- commissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, which previously delivered much of the power supply to Orange County, the local transmission system may not be able to deliver high loads and support high voltage demands. SCE has an Under -Voltage Load Shedding (UVLS) system in place for this. If low voltage levels are automatically detected, load shedding is automatically triggered and will occur without notice. SCE has four substations that may experience load shedding, which supply 35 cities or unincorporated jurisdictions throughout central and southern Orange County. These four substations are the Johanna, Ellis, Viejo and Santiago substations. The Energy/Power Failure Annex to this Plan shows the geographic boundaries and impacted communities and customers for each. Load shedding would likely occur in that order (Johanna, Ellis, Viejo, and Santiago) and would occur cumulatively, each phase darkening another substation until transmission reliability is restored. The City of Santa Ana is included in the Johanna (southeastern Santa Ana) and Ellis (western Santa Ana) substations. Large Scale, Widespread Power Outages Large scale, widespread power outages are rare and unlikely but are a worst -case scenario for power outages. These may be caused by weather -related damage or accidental or intentional damage to generating or transmission equipment. This may originate as an imbalance in the electrical grid that triggers a cascading power failure on a regional or multi -state basis, as more and more circuits are damaged or protective devices trigger automatic shutdowns. It may take considerable time to diagnose the cause, separate out undamaged circuits, repair damaged equipment and then to re -start generation from a cold, "black start" condition. This may cause widespread power outages to last for several hours to several days. The greater the portion of the grid effected, the longer it will take to resume operations. Impacts of Power Outages Any widespread power outage may constitute an emergency in itself. A prolonged power outage may affect people with disabilities or access and functional needs and those who rely on power for life -sustaining medical equipment, such as oxygen or respirators. Some life-saving medications require refrigeration. The very young or older persons and persons with underlying medical conditions may be at risk in high or low temperatures without access to air conditioning or heating. Hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and assisted living facilities may be unable to provide for their patients and residents. This may result in a surge of 911 calls for paramedics and a surge of patients into hospitals. Cooling or heating centers, places where individuals can go to escape heat or cold, may need to be activated in schools, community centers or businesses that have power or backup generators. 911 and other dispatch centers may become overloaded with multiple calls from the public. Individuals with electricity -dependent phones (cordless phones or cable/internet-based phone service) may not be able to call 911 or otherwise communicate by phone. Infrastructure that powers telephone, cell phone and internet communications may fail, causing those systems to stop working altogether. In addition to preventing people from calling for help, public safety agencies will be unable to distribute emergency warnings or information to the public. Prolonged power outages will affect critical, power -dependent infrastructure, including traffic signals and other traffic safety devices, and prevent water and sewer systems from delivering water for consumption or firefighting and removing sewage waste. Gas stations will not have power to pump gas, impeding vehicle travel, and facilities utilizing backup generators may begin to run out of fuel and be unable to re -supply when transportation and distribution systems are without power. The fuel distributors who are able to operate will quickly exhaust their supplies. This may require police and fire stations, 911 answering points, EOCs, jails, hospitals and nursing facilities and other critical facilities to function without electricity. Other essential businesses, like pharmacies, grocery stores and financial institutions may be unable to operate, preventing residents from obtaining critical supplies, and businesses may lose millions of dollars in lost revenue or perishable products. 67