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To power his home in the town of Woodside, in California’s San Mateo County, Wim Coekaerts decided to forego connecting to the local power grid. Instead, faced with the cost of having power brought to his home, the Oracle exec instead decided to make his own microgrid.
Coekaerts built microgrid due to the unreliability of California’s power grid
Coekaerts creation of a microgrid for his home was in part motivated by financial need. New homes without utility service in Woodside are required to pay for wires to be buried underground. In Coekaerts case, he was faced with having to pay Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. (PG&E) roughly $100,000 for engineering work on top of also having to foot the bill for trenching.
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Alsup Slams PG&E Legacy Of Terror, Mulls Probation Tweaks
Law360, San Francisco (February 3, 2021, 8:33 PM EST) U.S. District Judge William Alsup slammed Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. for the terror it s unleashed on Californians, saying during a hearing Wednesday he s considering expanding the convicted utility s probation to require it to factor in trees that could spark wildfires when deciding which power lines to de-energize during windstorms.
Judge Alsup lamented PG&E s continuing failure to operate its power grid safely, pointing to a long list of tragedies beginning with the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion followed by a wave of catastrophic wildfires in recent years.