LAT: Stage 2 Power Emergency Declared for CA (rolling blackouts possible)

[DeepModem Mom]

Stage 2 Power Emergency Declared for State
By Marc Lifsher, Times Staff Writer
1:33 PM PDT, July 24, 2006

California's electricity needs reached another level of concern today as regulators issued a Stage 2 emergency and began implementing a policy of voluntary cutbacks.

Unless businesses and residential users can keep demand below 1.5% of the operating reserve today, the California Independent System Operator said that the next level, a Stage 3 alert, would be declared, resulting in rolling blackouts.

The utility regulator predicted yet another record high for afternoon peak demand: 52,336 megawatts. That was just a few hundred megawatts under the system's net capacity of 53,000 megawatts, after subtracting 2,000 megawatts of power plant production expected to be idled for repairs. (A megawatt is enough power to run about 750 homes in Southern California.)

By midmorning, Cal-ISO had already declared a Stage 1 emergency, asking consumers to voluntarily conserve power usage. The Stage 2 emergency, ordering businesses under special contracts to curtail power, was issued about 1 p.m.

A Stage 3 emergency, setting off rolling blackouts across the state, might need to be called for the late afternoon period of peak demand, said Cal-ISO Chief Executive Officer Yakout Mansour at a morning briefing at the state Capitol....

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-072406power,0,4514866.story?track=mostviewed-homepage

[msongs]

1. results on my tour of town today ->

riverside county office building - freeeeeeeeeeezing, no cut backs there

riverside city hall - freeeeeeeeeeeezing, no cut backs there

firestone tire - no AC at all in office/customer area, just several box fans

several antique shops - freeeeeeeeeeeeezing, no cutbacks there

local quickie mart - no AC at all, just some fans

CA dept motor vehicles - freeeeeeeeeeeeezing, just overheated under the collar clients there :-)

MY HOUSE - AC on, set at 86 degrees, 2 box fans placed strategically. We have shut off any non-essential electrical like radios, etc.

CA governmental agencies see NO need to cut back or conserve. Everyone else can melt.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[cliss]

7. Wow....thanks for the update,

msongs. We're up here in Portland.....frying like little shrimps.

We have NO air conditioning, nor are we going to get it ....this year.

Actually, it's not so bad now. This weekend, however was worse.

[benburch]

2. We urgently need some new nuclear power capacity.

And as much wind and solar as we can find room for.

[whistle]

3. Set-up for a new terror attack by Enronzbollah descendent's

...:silly:

[cboy4]

4. Brings back fond memories of the Calif. Energy crisis of 2001 when

Ken Lay (God don't rest his soul) was happily fuc*ing over my state, overcharging us for desperately need electricity.

<------------KEN LAY

[David Zephyr]

5. So shouldn't Arnold be "recalled"?

Oh, I forgot he was lunching with Ken Lay during the Enronian-induced blackouts that was the "rationale" given for removing Gray Davis from office.

Of course, "that's different".

[louis-t]

6. I have a client in Calif. Power in his area (Saugus) was out on Saturday

cell # was not working today, it was 108 deg. on Saturday. I scanned the news stations since then and have not seen one story about this. It was a minor blip online this morning.

[goforit]

8. WTF is happenin to this Country?

Blackouts every where!!!

Time for Americans to throw their tea bags overboard!!!

No more tax payments till the US gov't gets their priorities in order!!!

[NYC]

9. In NYC, blackouts were rare

before deregulation. (or partial deregulation, whatever it is)