continued...
Sean Donelan writes on the NANOG board, in a thread titled, "it's cold, it's dark" :
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Approximately one-third of California's power generating capacitiy is off-line. The California system operator has called a "stage 3" power alert, requiring *interruptible* customers be interrupted until 10pm tonight. They are not instituting rotating blackouts of other customers at this time.
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late edit: Okay, here's a link and the story:
msnbc.com
Unprecedented power alert in Calif. ‘Stage Three’ could trigger rolling blackouts across state
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Dec. 7 — California declared an unprecedented electricity alert Thursday after its overwhelmed power grid, crippled by idled power plants and scant supplies, struggled to meet demand.
HUNDREDS OF COMPANIES were ordered to cut back on electricity use, but power managers said they hoped to avoid the rolling blackouts that would affect thousands of homes and businesses across the state.
Instead, the huge state and federal pumps that move water from northern to Southern California were temporarily shut down to save power.
“We’re hoping that with these resources, we can avoid the blackouts,” said Lorie O’Donley, a spokeswoman for the Independent System Operator, the power grid manager.
Demand reached 31,600 megawatts Thursday evening, nearly the maximum available, and authorities declared California’s first Stage Three alert. Reserves dipped below 1,000 megawatts, about enough electricity for 1 million homes in the nation’s most populous state.
The power crunch — which hit even before winter had begun — has been blamed on cold weather in the Northwest, the shutdown of some power plants for repairs and the effects of utility deregulation in California.
With supplies of electricity running perilously low, California officials declared a Stage Two emergency at 4 a.m. Thursday. It was the fourth such declaration in as many days and the eighth in three weeks.
Under the Stage Two emergency, hundreds of companies that had signed “interruptible” service contracts in exchange for huge rebates were ordered to reduce or shut down their power. Others awaited notification to do likewise.
Computer chip manufacturer Intel stood ready to turn off 50 percent of the lights at its 6,500-employee installation in Folsom.
“If that’s not enough, we’ll take the lights down 100 percent and work in the dark,” Intel spokesman Bill Mueller said.
Officials had said a Stage Three alert would trigger rolling blackouts, lasting about an hour in any given area and potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses.
STAGE THREE A FIRST
A Stage Two emergency is declared when power reserves fall —or are expected to fall — below 5 percent. California has never before had a statewide Stage Three emergency, which is declared when reserves fall below 1.5 percent.
The ISO said a 500-megawatt power plant unexpectedly went down Thursday afternoon, further stressing the system. The power manager also said utilities, which try to buy power at least a day in advance to obtain the best possible price, were buying power with just 10 minutes of lead time as available supplies dwindled.
The alerts are the latest in a series of problems to bedevil California’s deregulated electricity system.
The phased-in deregulation of California’s $20 billion electrical power industry was supposed to lower prices by creating greater competition. But demand for electricity has outstripped supply, in part because of a growing population and a booming high-tech economy.
Government and industry trade blame
Electricity is also in short supply because energy companies held off building new power plants while deregulation was in the planning stages. In addition, deregulation has forced utilities to sell off their power-generating assets, such as dams and plants, and import electricity from neighboring states, where power demand is high right now because of a cold snap.
Earlier this week, energy companies and state officials asked Californians to delay turning on their Christmas lights until well after nightfall and to keep thermostats set at 68 degrees. After lighting the Christmas tree at the state Capitol, Gov. Gray Davis quickly pulled the plug to conserve energy.
California inspectors have launched surprise inspections of power plants that have closed for repairs to see whether the shutdowns were deliberate attempts to drive up costs.
Shutdowns were part of the reason that one-quarter of the system’s capacity was down on Wednesday by 11,000 megawatts, enough to supply 11 million homes. Of that amount, state officials said, 4,000 megawatts were from plant breakdowns.
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