The year 2000 came, and the power industry survived. I always believed that electricity would continue without any real problems, but I wish to thank everyone here for helping me to keep focused, and to always think about that little insignificant item that we might have missed. There are some differences between our power systems here in New Zealand and the North American grid, but fortunately these are not too great, and the laws of physics are the same everywhere.

Rick, You have done a great job in keeping this forum going, and in helping to keep disruption to a minimum while still allowing the free exchange of information.

Fact Finder & Bonnie Camp, I don't know if Bonny will ever read this, but the research and linking abilities that the both of you have demonstrated are absolutely amazing.

The Engineer & CL, The two of you have both assisted me in drawing comparisoms between our two systems, and hence allowed me to express myself in terms relative to the USA electricity system.

Gordon, Thank you so much for the encouragement to keep on looking for that glitch that we may have missed. Fortunately we ame through perfectly, although I did just about S**t myself when our lights went out at home within the first hour of the rollover.

Marcella, we have locked horns a couple of times over your formula "No Oil = No Electricity, No Electricity = No Oil". I'll still disagree, although it is now a moot point as both are working well.

And to everyone else here, its been great discussing this issue with you. I have really enjoyed it.

But, I find that I've really had nothing to add over the past 2 weeks, so its time for me to say farewell from this forum. I will still drop in and lurk from time to time to see if there is anything of interest, however i probably won't be a regular.

There is another electrical issue that USA is about to face, and its one that New Zealand has already been through. Deregulation. If Rick is going to start a deregulation forum, then I will probably drop in, otherwise I'll just drop Rick a few lines describing the processes that have occured here and show the results.

I wish everyone here all the best, and if any of you are ever visiting New Zealand, please email me. You would be most welcome to visit us in Central Otago and enjoy the real New Zealand.

Malcolm

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2000

Answers

Malcolm

Thank you for your excellent contributions here, and especially for the hard work you put into the testing and remediation effort. I'm glad that all went well.

Your story about your lights going out made me laugh. A common practical joke played on "new guys" is to wait for the moment during operation checking when the breaker failure lockout under test (properly defeated) is being manually actuated. At that moment someone will turn off the substation lights while a second joker will punch the tin walls of the control house with their fist (which closely approximates the sound of an in-service breaker operating). The resulting feeling must be very close to what you felt at the rollover.

In the US, de-regulation should be more properly referred to as "re- regulation". Should be an interesting discussion.

Take care, and if you're ever in the US stop by and visit - we'll keep the lights on for ya!

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2000

Malcolm - many thanks for all of your reasoned contributions. I know that many, many readers came to trust your contributions and analysis. What you may not know is how much positive influence you had on the viewpoints of "civilians", both here and on TB2000. It was considerable, in my estimation. May our paths cross on other than the phone lines someday, so I might thank you in person.

Having gone through privatization on your scrap of the planet, I'm sure that your experiences would be of much value on the Energyland.net deregulation forum. For both you and CL, take a look at Energyland.net - and click on "online communities". You'll find a discussion forum on deregulation, and your participation would be most welcome. No password is necessary.

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2000

Malcolm,

Sigh. I only wish the lights had gone out here just after rollover. For a little while. Long enough to light some Coleman or Kerosene lamps. And smirk. Or look alarmed. And have all my previous comments and concerns validated. It would have been that "spoonful of sugar that makes the medicine go down." But nooooooo! Not even a flicker, from then until now. Solid as a rock at 124 volts. Phone never quit either. Bank accounts all just fine. Electronic deposits went in without a hitch. Sigh.

Actually, it has been a pleasure and honor to hear so much insider information from you, and others here. As you know, I didn't give some of the information from "others" the credit it was due. Tunnel vision for me I guess. You know you get tunnel vision when the "G" load reaches a certain point, and I remember thinking many times, geeez, geeez, when I read some (nameless) posts.

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2000

Malcolm, I've always enjoyed your accurate insider's view of the electric industry, and your civility toward all. I agree with Rick's comment about how much positive work you've accomplished on this and the TB2000...best of luck in your future endeavors...

(P.S.: Can you pop back in around Leap Day to give a report on how things are doing down there?)

CL: Yeah, I've been a victim of that little trick...usually the technicians stand behind me and yell "BAM!" right at the moment you close a cutoff blade (and of course aren't expecting the breaker to trip!).

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2000

Thanks for all of your highly informative posts, Malcolm.

I doubt that I'll ever be in that part of the world, but I've always heard that New Zealand and Australia are beautiful. As a kid I had a pen pal in Bundaberg, Australia.

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2000

Malcom, It was a pleasure to have you join this forum, you added much more than I ever did by providing us with factual information in a very congenial manner. Your coverage of the rollover for NZ was outstanding, and the followup story about your local outage was so funny!

Best Wishes,

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2000