California Power Grid Back From Brink, but cold snap coming up

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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Power Grid Back From Brink But cold snap forecast for Monday could bring worst energy crisis yet

David Lazarus, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, December 8, 2000

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California remained in a state of energy emergency today, although officials lowered the level of severity as unexpectedly mild weather eased the load on the power grid.

Last night, California was hit with its first Stage 3 power alert -- the highest level of energy emergency -- as electricity reserves fell to the lowest level ever.

Although a Stage 3 crisis authorizes utilities to initiate rolling blackouts to ease pressure on the power grid, officials said that was unnecessary because other remedies kept the system running.

The danger of blackouts, caused by cold weather and a drop in energy supply,

continued today and will grow most severe on Monday when an Arctic cold front blows down the West Coast from Canada.

However, California's emergency status was lowered to Stage 2 because of the warmer-than-expected weather and a return to operation by a handful of power plants that had been shut for repairs.

"The situation looks much better today," said Patrick Dorinson, director of communications for the Independent System Operator, which oversees the state's power grid.

The shortage last night was relieved to a large extent when the huge pumps that move water from Northern to Southern California were turned off to save power after the alert was announced at 5:15 p.m.

And additional electricity reserves were released into the state's grid from Arizona by the federal Western Area Power Administration and the state Department of Water Resources.

"Operators here in the control room were saying this was the worst they'd seen in 30 years in the utilities business," said Stephanie McCorkle, a spokeswoman for the ISO.

The Stage 3 alert ended at 7:30 p.m. and was immediately replaced by a Stage 2 alert.

"We're not out of the woods," McCorkle warned, noting that demand today also stands a good chance of outpacing available supply.

The expected plunge in temperatures along the West Coast by Monday could make last night's emergency pale in comparison, she added.

The ISO today called the fifth Stage 2 emergency of the week as power reserves fell below 5 percent of load capacity.

Under a Stage 2 alert, utilities cut power to volunteer customers but not to the general public.

California's first Stage 3 emergency came late yesterday when a sudden spike in demand caused reserves to dip for the first time below 3 percent.

The ISO declared a partial Stage 3 emergency in Northern California on June 14, but before yesterday, it had never called one statewide.

ISO officials feared that if demand continued to rise, reserves would fall to 1.5 percent, the technical level at which a Stage 3 emergency is called. By issuing the alert early, they hoped to prevent the situation from worsening beyond repair.

"You have to pull the trigger because you have to protect the system," the ISO's Dorinson said.

Demand peaked last night at about 32,000 megawatts, nearly the maximum available amount of power. Reserves fell below 1,000 megawatts, or enough power for about 1 million homes.

ISO officials blamed the Stage 3 emergency on numerous plants being shut for repairs or exceeding pollution limits and on limited resources from out-of- state power generators.

Ron Low, a spokesman for Pacific Gas and Electric Co., said the utility was never asked by the ISO to initiate rolling blackouts.

"We had been prepared throughout the day to implement the rotating outage program," he said.

If rolling blackouts are called for today, he said, PG&E has divided its 4. 5 million customers into blocks, and each block would be darkened for about an hour at a time.

The blocks are defined by PG&E's network of circuits rather than by geography. Thus, neighborhoods in San Francisco and Chico might be blacked out simultaneously.

"This shows what a delicate situation we're in," Low said of the Stage 3 emergency, which he blamed in part on a cold snap in the Pacific Northwest. "California is not an island."

Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for Gov. Gray Davis, called the various elements buffeting California power supply "the perfect storm in electricity."

He said Davis believes some power plants are deliberately withholding power or performing unnecessary maintenance to drive up prices. "The governor is concerned there has been some market manipulation and gaming," Maviglio said.

All state workers were instructed by e-mail yesterday afternoon to conserve power. "The hallways over here are dark," Maviglio said. "It's an extraordinary situation."

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STATES OF EMERGENCYThe Independent System Operator identifies three levels of electrical emergency:1) Stage 1: Energy reserves have fallen below 7 percent. Consumers are asked to voluntarily turn off lights and assorted gadgets to reduce power use as much as possible.2) Stage 2: Reserves are below 5 percent. Power may be interrupted to some heavy users.3) Stage 3: Reserves have been almost depleted. Electricity to all users may be cut at any time.

Chronicle staff writer Robert Salladay contributed to this story. / E-mail David Lazarus at dlazarus@sfchronicle.com.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/12/08/MN146105.DTL

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), December 08, 2000


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