the film forum library tutorial contact

California May Lead Northwest into Dark by Jonathan Brinckman The Oregonian, December 8, 2000

An electricity crisis in California means the state's traditional winter shipments of excess power probably won't flow northward

California declared an unprecedented energy emergency Thursday, possibly imperiling the Northwest's power supply, as hundreds of companies were ordered to cut back on electricity use and officials warned that rolling blackouts might be necessary.

Oregon and the Northwest could be hit, because California is unable to spare the electricity it normally sends north in the high-demand winter months.

"We are really hurting today. The state is scrambling to find energy," said Pat Dorinson, spokesman for the California Independent System Operator, a state power agency.

The power crunch -- which hit even before winter -- 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.

But no power shortages were forecast in the Northwest.

"Right now the assessment is tight but OK," said Dick Watson, power planning director for the Northwest Power Planning Council in Portland. "That assessment could change rapidly if the weather becomes more severe."

Weekend lows in Portland are forecast in the 30s and 40s, with a cold snap expected Monday. Temperatures Monday through Wednesday will drop as low as 15 degrees, the National Weather Service predicts.

A special Emergency Response Team was scheduled to meet today in Portland to determine whether water, stored behind dams to aid salmon passage later in the year, should be released now to generate emergency power.

Under the Endangered Species Act, that water must be used in the spring and summer to help endangered salmon migrate. But a special provision of the act also allows water to be released in the event of power emergencies.

"If the weather goes the way our forecasters are saying, there's a very high possibility we may have to go that route," Ed Mosey, a spokesman for the Bonneville Power Administration, said Thursday. "It's not looking good."

Bonneville is a federal agency that markets electricity generated by federal dams throughout the Columbia Basin. The Northwest Power Planning Council, also in the discussion about what to do, is an organization representing Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. Its priorities balance electricity generation with salmon protection efforts in the Columbia Basin.

Demand reached 31,600 megawatts Thursday evening -- nearly the maximum available, as reserves dipped below 1,000 megawatts -- and authorities declared California's first Stage Three alert. That alert ended about 7:30 p.m.

Hundreds of companies were ordered to cut back on electricity use, but power managers said they hoped to avoid the rolling blackouts that would last about an hour in any given area and could affect hundreds of 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.

With supplies of electricity running perilously low, California officials had 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 use of 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.

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 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.

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 Wednesday. The lost capacity, 11,000 megawatts, would have been enough to supply 11 million homes. Of that amount, state officials said, 4,000 megawatts were from plant breakdowns.