BLOOMBERG: Utilities Say They're Y2K Ready, Though Blackouts Expected
Washington, June 30 (Bloomberg) -- Most U.S. utilities said today that their power plants and transmission lines are ''Y2K ready,'' though experts still expect some power failures when the New Year comes.
Utilities were asked to report their level of ''readiness'' to the North American Electric Reliability Council today. While a full report on the results won't be ready until July 29, dozens of utilities declared their success at finding and eliminating the Millennium bug.
Electric utilities spent billions of dollars over the past several years to prepare for the day when aging computer and analog systems can't determine whether the digits ''00'' represent the year 1900 or 2000. They've been upgrading and testing components of power plants and distribution systems, and setting up contingency plans in case of
failures.
''Utilities are scared,'' said Cameron Daley, chief operating officer of Framingham, Massachusetts-based Tava/R.W. Beck, which tested and upgraded systems for more than 100 U.S. utilities. ''The whole grid won't collapse, but there will be outages that could last up to several weeks.''
[FYI - R.W. Beck has planned, designed and developed electric power generating, transmission, and distribution facilities since 1942. They specialize in providing engineering services to electric utilities, particularly in the area of risk assessment and planning. They have over 1,000 customers. In March '98 they formed a joint venture with systems integrator, TAVA Technologies.]
While no utility has guaranteed there won't be blackouts Jan. 1, industry groups said utilities are doing everything they can to prevent problems, including preparing for the worst.
''We believe Y2K won't be a problem,'' said Eugene Gorzelnik, a spokesman for the council. ''There will be a huge backlash if a utility reports it's Y2K ready, and it turns out that it wasn't.'' Edison International's Southern California Edison utility, which has
spent $72 million on Y2K preparation, said it plans to dispatch an extra 500 employees on New Year's Eve. Wisconsin Energy Corp.'s Wisconsin Electric Power Co. plans to have as much as 50 percent more electricity available than it normally needs at that time of year.
Still, deregulation has pushed utilities to cut labor and other costs, and those that are deepest in negotiations with regulators haven't been as focused on preventing problems related to the millennium bug, Daley said.
''The utilities most distracted by deregulation aren't doing enough to identify and prevent problems,'' Daley said. ''There are a number of instances where utilities didn't go deep enough into their systems -- they accepted vendors' words that parts of a system were compliant.'' Even if a utility corrects all the problems in its own system,
power still may be cut off to their customers. That's because U.S. and Canadian power lines connect all utilities, and when one utility system breaks down, it could cause problems for others.
''We cannot provide warranties (against blackouts) because our readiness depends in part on other parties,'' said Samuel Manno, director of Niagara Mohawk Power Corp.'s Y2K project.
At the trade council's suggestion, utilities agreed to conduct the first major test of the entire power systems' ability to properly recognize dates beyond 1999 on September 9. ''We hope to learn what still needs to be done at that point and correct any glitches before they happen,'' Gorzelnik said.
========================================================
SEPT 9: NATIONWIDE TEST OF ENTIRE NORTH AMERICAN ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
"The September 9, 1999 drill is expected to be a dress rehearsal for rollover from December 31, 1999 to January 1, 2000. This drill may include reducing planned outages, modified committment of resources, redispatch of generation and transmission loading, cooperation with electric market participants, and staffing of all critical facilities. The goal would be to simulate system conditions and operating plans for the Y2K transition as closely as possible without increasing risks to personnel and equipment safety or system operating security."
NERC: ftp://www.nerc.com/pub/sys/all_updl/docs/y2k/drills.pdf
Cheryl |
