Foil balloons can take down power lines. California just passed a law to phase them out

It’s all enjoyable and video games till the facility line blows up.

Foil balloons generally festooned at celebratory occasions resembling birthdays and graduations inadvertently trigger hundreds of energy outages. The shiny, metallic exterior of the balloons, resembling Mylar, are electrically conductive and in the event that they float into and get tangled in energy traces, they will spark fires and trigger circuits to close down.

New laws signed by Gov . Gavin Newsom final weekend, sponsored by Assemblymember Invoice Quirk, D-Hayward, in collaboration with San Diego Fuel & Electrical, requires producers and stores to combine non-electrically conductive foil balloons into {the marketplace} inside the subsequent few years.

“Balloon security can go a great distance in stopping energy outages and fires,” Quirk stated in an announcement. “With California dealing with rising wildfire dangers and electrical reliability challenges attributable to local weather change, it’s essential that we do all the pieces we will to mitigate hearth danger and stop energy interruption.”

Working with engineers at SDG&E, Quirk launched Meeting Invoice 847 that requires sellers to transition to non-electrically conductive balloons by no later than Jan. 1, 2027. SDG&E collaborated with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers to make sure that foil balloons offered in California finally meet IEEE necessities and don’t harm or interrupt the service {of electrical} traces.

The utility additionally labored with a number one balloon producer, Anagram, to develop and take a look at a balloon product of shiny materials that’s non-conductive. The balloon was efficiently examined in situations frequent to these of California’s three large investor-owned utilities — SDG&E, Pacific Fuel & Electrical and Southern California Edison.

SDG&E Chief Working Officer Kevin Geraghty stated the brand new balloons carry out in addition to these at the moment available on the market and, “I’d believe that you simply’re going to see it enter at an identical value level.”

Regardless of their non-threatening look, foil balloons trigger main complications, particularly in California the place dry situations in recent times have made the specter of wildfires a year-round concern.

“All these balloons are a scourge to the business,” Geraghty stated.

Over the previous six years, SDG&E has recorded greater than 700 outages and 28 reportable fires attributable to foil balloons coming into contact with overhead energy traces. PG&E reported greater than 600 foil balloon-related outages in 2021 alone. Southern California Edison blamed balloons on 1,103 outages final yr, impacting 1.6 million prospects.

The web is dotted with movies of electrically-conductive balloons coming into contact with energy traces.

Utilities in another states have lobbied for outright bans on metallic foil balloons however Geraghty stated the phase-in interval of greater than 4 years will give the state’s balloon business time to make the change, “and it’s additionally a win for shoppers who on the finish of the day nonetheless need to use this product.”

AB 847 handed the Meeting ground and the Senate ground on unanimous votes.