Expansionary Institute

Michael Zey
futurist3000@aol.com

 
FOLSOM, Calif. (AP) - A looming cold front raised new worries after the state's strained electric grid averted blackouts by temporarily shutting down enormous pumps that send water to central and southern California.

State officials declared a Stage Three alert Thursday because as utilities struggled to meet evening demands, the state's electricity reserves dipped to critical levels.

The unprecedented emergency followed hours of increasing stress on California's electricity grid, which has been strapped by cold weather, power plants idled for maintenance and repairs, and dwindling imports. The alert allows operators to obtain emergency power and ask certain customers to curtail usage and warns of the possibility of blackouts.

Officials with California Independent System Operator, which controls the power grid for much of the western United States, said coming days won't get easier.

``The Northwest is also expecting cold weather, and a lot of power we use is from there and won't be coming down here,'' said Jim McIntosh, director of scheduling for the ISO. ``Monday is going to be a really big challenge.''

If enough power can't be found when demand peaks, the ISO could order rotating blackouts in which blocks of up to 100,000 customers would be without power for up to an hour. In the winter months, that's especially dangerous, because the peak is about 6 p.m., said Jim Detmers, managing director of operations at ISO.

``It's dark, it's foggy. The last thing I want to have happen is to have a school bus go through an intersection where the lights have just gone dark,'' he said. ``What do I tell those parents? That we didn't do enough here to keep the lights on?''

Though power demands usually lessen over the weekend when commercial customers don't need it, Detmers said a large transmission line and a power plant will both be down for repairs this weekend, making those days critical.

The power grid managers were able to avoid blackouts Thursday by tapping electricity intended for the pumps that push water from Northern California to the central and southern regions of the state.

By temporarily halting the two-story pumps that suck water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta east of San Francisco, authorities obtained an additional 500 megawatts.

Demand on the grid reached 31,600 megawatts Thursday evening, nearly the maximum available. Reserves dipped below 1,000 megawatts, prompting the alert. One megawatt powers 1,000 homes.

``If we're short by 500 megawatts, that's 500,000 people affected (by blackouts). If we're short 1,000 megawatts, that's a million people,'' said ISO spokeswoman Stephanie McCorkle.

Hundreds of companies cut their electricity usage, and others awaited notification to do likewise. Computer chip maker Intel said it was prepared to turn off 50 percent of the lights at its 6,500-employee Folsom campus if necessary.

``If that's not enough, we'll take the lights down 100 percent and work in the dark,'' said Bill Mueller, Intel's director of communications.

Gov. Gray Davis said the problems stemmed in part from flaws in California's newly deregulated electricity system, including huge increases in the cost of wholesale power.

``We're simply not ready for deregulation in California,'' the governor said.

``California is riding point on this deregulation experiment,'' Davis added. ``The problem is, I can't control the process. There are too many players.''

Under a 1996 law, California's investor-owned monopoly utilities were required to sell off their power-generating assets, such as dams and power plants, and purchase electricity on the open market.

The goal was to lower prices to consumers through a competitive market, but skyrocketing energy costs sent market prices sharply higher.

San Diego Gas and Electric Co., with 1.2 million customers in San Diego and southern Orange County, was the first to complete its transition. It passed on the costs of wholesale electricity to its customers, resulting in a doubling and tripling of customers' bills. The outcry prompted state and federal investigations.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co., with 4.5 million customers in Northern and Central California, and Southern California Edison Co., with 4.2 million, have yet to fully deregulate. They say they have paid more than $5 billion in excess wholesale charges since the summer and both sought permission from state regulators and federal courts to pass those charges to customers.

Deregulation's political popularity during the last decade made power plant builders wary of building in the state. As a result, electricity supplies remained stagnant at a time when the state's population exploded and high-tech companies boomed.

Eight new plants have been licensed since 1998, but the soonest any will begin operation is next summer. State officials believe costs will ease as that new energy becomes available.

On the Net:

The California Independent System Operator Web site is www.caiso.com

AP-NY-12-08-00 0903EST

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.  

Calif. ends stage three power emergency –came close to rolling blackouts-
 
ROSEMEAD, Calif., Dec 7 (Reuters) - Southern California Edison said on Thursday the California Independent System Operator (ISO) ended a so-called stage three power emergency, which could have triggered rolling blackouts across the state, after a stage three emergency was declared earlier in the day.

No communities served by Southern California Edison, which has 4.3 million customer accounts, experienced a rotating outage, the utility said.

Southern California Edison said the ISO terminated the stage three emergency at 7:30 p.m. (0330 GMT), noting the earlier stage three declaration enabled the non-profit ISO to receive emergency assistance from the Western Area Power Administration and the California Department of Water Resources.

The announcements are part of an ongoing effort to grapple with a chronic power shortage in California's deregulated electricity market.

Customers who voluntarily reduce their power consumption during power emergencies were told they could restore their full "load," Southern California Edison said. Those customers were asked to curtail their load when the state's power reserves fall below five percent, it added.

A stage two emergency remained in effect until 10 p.m., Southern California Edison said.

Southern California Edison is an Edison International company.

00:08 12-08-00

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