Posted on 03/22/2012 10:03:38 PM PDT by BenLurkin
SAN CLEMENTE (CBS) — Parts of the Los Angeles Basin and San Diego could face power shortages this summer depending on whether the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station units remain offline.
“Safety is the top priority during ongoing inspections and testing of the nuclear power plant,” said Steve Berberich, president and chief executive officer of the California Independent System Operator Corp., the grid operator for the majority of California’s electric transmission system.
“Our focus is contingency planning should SONGS remain offline this summer,” he said. “Fortunately, there are resource options available to help mitigate reliability risks. We are actively working with San Diego Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and others because prudent mitigation planning takes adequate lead time and summer heat is only a couple months away.”
Unit 3 of the plant south of San Clemente has been shut down since Jan. 31, after station operators detected a leak in one of its steam generator tubes. Its two steam generators are undergoing extensive testing and inspections in order to fully assess their condition and the cause of the leak. Unit 2 was taken down for planned maintenance Jan. 9.
Neither unit will return to operation “until we are satisfied it is safe to do so,” said Jennifer Manfre, Southern California Edison’s senior manager of media relations.
Technical studies presented at Thursday’s Cal-ISO board meeting show very tight reserve margins for San Diego and the Los Angeles Basin, especially during potential summer heat waves.
Contingency planning will likely include servicing Huntington Beach Power Plant units previously slated for retirement, accelerating completion of Barre-Ellis & Sunrise Powerlink transmission projects, re-activating the 20/20 demand reduction program and Flex Alert TV and radio conservation campaign, according to Cal-ISO.
The ISO peak demand is projected to reach 46,352 megawatts this summer under normal conditions, 923 more than the actual peak of 45,429 recorded in 2011, but less than the 2011 forecast under normal weather, according to the grid operator.
The decrease in the 2012 peak demand forecast is because of a conservative economic recovery prediction by Moody’s Analytics for 2012 as compared to its 2011 economic forecast, according to Cal-ISO
Fortunately for the folks in California they have lots of those wind farms to take up the slack.
Avoid the rush. Charge your car up now.
Ping.
This summer there will be more "rolling blackouts" in CA, and I wouldn't doubt they could spread to other regions as well. And I have NO DOUBT that rates will go up.
If the republicans don't make Obama the star of their congressional and presidential advertisements, the pubbies deserve to lose.
We need to hear people complaining about high electrical rates and shortages, immediately followed by Obama stating that under his plans, "prices would necessarily skyrocket," followed by his statement that if a power company tries opening a coal fired plant, Obama's regime would "bankrupt them." It's rare that a political campaign gets an honest chance to place blame where it really deserves to be, and this is one of those rare chances.
Mark
Fortunately for the folks in California they have lots of those wind farms to take up the slack.
No they won’t. The animal rights people are closing down the wind farms because those nasty machines kill the little birds./s
They also have a very large coastline plenty of algae to make fuel.
A state as populated as california, and they have only two nuclear plant sites. Pennsylvania or Illinois have like 7 or more sites, with less population. If one plant goes down, and causes that much of a disruption, you have some serious problems on the supply side. Or, more than likely, the nuts and flakes want it that way, much to the chagrin of the californians who still have their heads screwed on straight.
I am certain nobody in LA would ever riot over this kind of thing.
/SARC
It will be the largest hispanic/black battlefield in America.
Texas has a lot of windfarms too and the EPA shut down some coal power plants.... we will definitely have blackouts by August
If the power goes out very long, they’ll have all the algae they need in backyard pools.
Well there goes my oplans to buy a VoLt.......
Well there goes my plans to buy a VoLt.......
I could see Las Vegas being forced to divert power to LA to prevent mass civil upheaval.
They already do, Recall LA got in a huff and they told them that they could do without. Too bad the lines going south only hold a small amount.
More like Mexico every day.
An untapped biofuel that would solve California’s energy shortage is the hot gas coming out of their Lefty politicians. At this time they are so much worthless talk.
Good and let it stay that way.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.