My problems with that idea are that lights/commotion from electricity attracts both walkers and other survivors outside the gates. As of now everybody has been put down around the fences, but that can't last forever. The less attention they attract the better.

Also, I really believe the military is reserving electricity for their own operations, hospitals, etc. Your targeted grid idea is logical, but I doubt they have the capacity to share the wealth with the civilians.

For the record, there are 12 safe zones.

 

I have a feeling it wouldn't be that easy without experts on hand. I think only a fairly small percentage of LA's power comes from the dam. They still rely largely on coal, don't they? So it would likely involve people who knew how to reroute energy from the damn and its transformers to this specific neighborhood. If the upper levels of government are still intact, this could probably be done. But if the central government/military has mostly fallen, and we are dealing with just mid and lower level military that are now cut off and acting on old orders and have mostly gone rogue, then they may not have any hydroelectric or power grid type experts.

 

The theory is sound, the problem may be putting it into practice.

 

Samething with the CDC, but like Jenner said, eventually people left to be with their family's..and a lot oppted out..

 

They might be very responsible but when it comes to their families being in danger, that's a risky bet. And I'm guessing you'd need more than just hydroelectric people at the dam, but also local LA electrical grid people on board with the project.

 

Electricity does not automatically re-route itself. It requires a grid. My guess is that some valiant hangers on at the electric companies are trying their best to get electricity working -- but they are short on manpower and resources and maybe they're just doing rolling blackouts or maybe they're just doing the best they can. It won't be long before it's all gone anyway without new fuel sources coming into the plants.

 

There's going to be certain grids that are the last to go too, maybe the areas that are still easy to run and are not compromised by outside influence are what helped determine the where the safe zones were set up. Seems like something made certain neighborhoods easier to clear, fence, keep power to, etc. I can't think it was luck of the draw, and certainly not based on who lived there or the houses, lol. Has to be some advantage to being where they are. Maybe there are substations that run those neighborhoods that are still working, even if at a lessened capacity.

 

The Power Grid here has a combination of Manual and Automated control systems to try to manage distribution through a lot of different demands and conditions but the system as a whole can not be run unmanned for very long on a wide area basis.

So as soon as the system starts getting wonky if humans can not intervene and approve rerouting of the grid resources rolling blackouts are the result.

It is a somewhat fragile balance especially in areas like Southern California and not too tough to imagine that it spirals out of control quickly as fewer and fewer living people are there to run things.
The Dead are just not good decision makers.

I don't think it makes much sense to literally keep the population in the dark if it can be avoided as things like this always make them harder to control no matter the reasons they try it.

There is also a finite granular control over what areas get or don't get power based on where and how old substations might be for the area.
Add to that the fact that the major transmission lines for huge areas can run for thousands of miles and regions transfer capacity to each other all the time during peak demand and it makes sense that power can fail big and fast really.

 

Well, I guess stuff is failing, shorting out, so people are needed to maintain the power(grid).
(Fires and riots and stuff also damaging the power grid (lines) ).

And maintenance people are more and more 'unavailable'.
So they have to route the less and less power.
Maybe other 'save' parts get power on other times.....

:zombies_confused:

 

As stated, the hydroelectric power would have to be routed by experts at the dam, as well as LA grid technicians. Its likely that they have neither in their possesion.

 

Its likely that many of those techs were lying in the road with a hole in their head or walking around going "GAK?" before anyone could have begun to organize such a thing. By the time they realized the situation was devastating enough to need this kind of back up plan, it was too late.

When we look around us. A ZA has happened.