Heat Brings Record Demand as Fires Shut Down Lines

The state grid operator called no emergencies this week as long-anticipated summer heat finally bore down on California. Temperatures hit the century mark in inland valleys, and electricity demand reached three consecutive all-time highs. While supplies were adequate, the unforeseen transmission outages due to fires north of Los Angeles made grid operations dicey, and a capacity tagging market?a plan to deliver demand response and squeeze out the last drop of supplies in tight circumstances?would not have made much, if any, difference. Statewide, load peaked at 44,360 MW on Wednesday, breaking records for a third day in a row after a new peak demand record of 44,330 MW had been set on Tuesday?a day that exceeded the record of 44,042 MW set Monday, reported the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). The previous record of 43,609 MW was set on July 12, 1999. Industry officials attributed the record demand not only to heat but to statewide growth. Temperatures in the Inland Valley reached 100 degrees on Tuesday. In the desert, they hovered above 110. Although the grid operator and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have worried that a shortage of supply in Southern California would exacerbate potential summer shortfalls, supplies were not the real problem?even with 1,100 MW going out on Wednesday as unit 1 at the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant was shut down for repairs to the reactor coolant pump. The 775 MW unit 2 at Ormond Beach also had an unplanned outage early Friday. Rather, transmission outages were the primary culprit for triggering measures such as demand response. Losing the Diablo unit?s capacity is ?significant,? according to CAISO spokesperson Gregg Fishman, but its loss also affects the ability to import transmission on Path 15 and Path 26. Two separate fires affecting transmission lines in Southern California interfered with deliveries. The Crown fire near Acton on Tuesday tripped seven 220 kV Edison lines, forcing the utility to call on its interruptible air conditioning service and agricultural irrigation pump customers to conserve power after CAISO ordered a 300 MW load reduction in the utility?s service area. ?That was enough to get us over the hump until demand fell,? said SoCal Edison spokesperson Gil Alexander. Company crews were able to restore the lines after the fire burned through the area that afternoon. Over the weekend, the Foothill fire near Santa Clarita burned underneath five Los Angeles Department of Water & Power transmission lines, causing $1 million in damage to one 115 kV line, according to John Schumann, acting assistant general manager for power at the department. He said that the department did not have to cut off service to any of its customers but that it would take weeks to repair the damaged line. In this sort of situation, the proposed capacity tag market would not help, even if it was in place this summer ( Circuit , May 21, 2004). ?This isn?t an issue of resources not being available,? said Peter Evans, who is promoting capacity tagging on behalf of the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group. He said that the year-ahead market as it?s being recommended would ?give you a great feeling of comfort? with extra supplies and conservation, but ?you ultimately can?t predict transmission outages.? As the promise of a capacity tagging market continues to be vetted in regulatory arenas, demand appears to be increasing as the state?s economy and population grow. ?One way of understanding it is population growth and increased usage of electricity per household,? said Edison?s Alexander. ?Over the last ten years, we?ve seen a 33 percent increase in peak demand.? To the south of Los Angeles, San Diego Gas & Electric warned its customers that fast-moving events had the potential to trigger service interruptions at virtually any time, but the utility managed to avoid any problems during the heat wave. Schumann said that the Los Angeles municipal power agency had almost reached its expected summer peak load early in the week, but it had plenty of spare generating capacity available. In fact, he said, the department is negotiating with CAISO to supply power to the state?s grid this summer and fall. J.A. Savage also contributed to this report.

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Heat Brings Record Demand as Fires Shut Down Lines

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