Oregon Power Grid Overloaded, Cannabis Grows to Blame

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]T[/dropcap]his past week in Oregon, Pacific Power officially announced that their power plants have experienced seven recent transformer blowouts due to one new industry: Cannabis. Commercial cannabis grow sites are taking a toll on Oregon’s power grid, causing outages in the city, and even equipment damage. A spokesperson for Portland General Electric stated that 10 percent of transformer blowouts at their plants, which happen dozens of times every year, were also caused by new cannabis grows. It took the electric company a while before they were able to pinpoint the cause for all these problems, which started in July. A circuit was shorted in a North East Portland neighborhood this summer. Dozens lost power because of two separate indoor growing operations that were actually inside of people’s homes. It took several hours to figure out that it wasn’t what they would normally look for after an outage.

Now, Portland General Electric, along with Pacific Power, is looking for solutions that will help ease the strain on the power grid, not only from commercial grow sites, but in-house grow operations as well. Because the industry has been growing so rapidly since the legalization of cannabis in Oregon, power companies have had to backtrack and get on board with the now legal market. Back in the day, an in-house grower might resort to shoddy electrical work to power his grow site. Now you can actually communicate with those providing your power to make sure systems are working properly before starting to grow. The grid has been above capacity since summertime in Portland, and power companies need time to deal with the increased usage. Although the amount of outages and transformer blowouts is higher than usual in recent months, electric companies feel confident that the problem can be solved with communication. They want to nip this problem in the bud early. Both PGE and Pacific Power want those who are looking into starting an indoor or commercial cannabis grow site to let them know in advance so they can check into the stability of the systems in that area. They don’t mind people using more power; they just want a little heads up so they can continue to provide regular service to all of their customers. Most outages have been occurring within Portland city limits, but there have also been several in Southern Oregon.

Because only one or two in-house grow operations could overload your local grid, it’s really important to ensure that you won’t cause an outage. Each cannabis plant needs enough energy to power about seven or eight refrigerators, so you want to make sure you aren’t taking electricity that should be going to someone else. Some commercial grow sites even have a professional electrician on staff that checks systems regularly. Even at-home growers use 1,000 watt bulbs for their plants, and several of them make it similar to running a dryer or hot tub. So you need a dedicated circuit just to power your site. Now that cannabis is legal, those looking to grow at home can ask their power provider for advice on how to set up their home-grow energy source. You can ask for information instead of literally being left in the dark about the whole process. Once the proper precautions are taken, you should be able to grow your four plants without a problem. Once power providers know that you are increasing usage; they can make the necessary adjustments. You can also use a better system that gives the main power grid a break, and insulation in grow rooms can always help conserve energy as well.

Once you do the preliminary work to set up your grow site, it is also important to keep things legal. Lots of resources are becoming available for those wanting to grow at home, but you need to do it wisely. Only those 21 and over can grow up to four cannabis plants in their household, which can’t be visible to the public. Outside grows must be kept private, but are a great idea for newbies looking to learn how. The initial investment for growing outside is significantly less than growing indoors, and you won’t have to worry about your power bill going through the roof. Allow yourself a season to become familiar with the growing process, and keep your expectations low at first. In Oregon, we are used to smoking the best cannabis around, but it takes a while to be able to grow green that good. Give yourself time to practice. Most people in Portland are less than two people removed from someone who grows cannabis anyway, so I’m sure there will be plenty to go around while you learn.