Stone Edge Farm Remains On During PG&E Planned Power Shutoff

On October 9th, 2019, Stone Edge Farm had the lights on. The microgrid gave the property electricity during a planned shutoff that brought darkness to most of Sonoma County. While the rest of the town rushed to stock up on ice, gasoline, water, and food, Stone Edge Farm continued life as usual, with plenty of stored solar power to keep lights and refrigerators running and hydrogen to power their cars.

Stores across Sonoma closed, tourists frantically searched for food, and bar owners either took the economic hit or lit their establishments with battery-powered camping lights. There was an air of desperation in Sonoma, a stark contrast to the tranquility at Stone Edge Farm.

As anger grew for the electric utility, residents wrestled with what should have been the proper course of action. Should they have waited until there was a fire to cut the power? Or at least until the winds picked up and proved to be a real threat? While Californians seemed to be focusing on the “proper time” to shut off power, we know that timing is not where PG&E stumbled. Their fault was in refusing to shift to a more distributed energy grid after the fires of 2017 and 2018. Their mission is to provide safe and consistent power to the state of California, and by failing to invest in alternatives to their top-down, mono-directional grid, they have caused a state of emergency in their attempt to avoid one.

As Catherine Von Burg says, “I invite utility CEOs and leaders and the PUC to come to Stone Edge Farm and see not only what is possible, but what's being done and to see the anecdote to all of this.”