Unexpected Heat Wave Cited in Blackout

Los Angeles Times ^ | March 10, 2004 | Elizabeth Douglass

[Jubal Harshaw]

Unexpected Heat Wave Cited in Blackout

By Elizabeth Douglass, Times Staff Writer

Record high temperatures throughout Southern California triggered the state's first major power blackout since the energy crisis, leaving 70,000 customers in the dark for 21 minutes. The problems weren't the result of power plant meltdowns or market manipulation but something more mundane: Too many people used their air conditioners at the same time.

The state's grid operator declared an emergency at 6:21 p.m. Monday when hotter-than-expected weather pushed electricity demand above anticipated levels and threatened to overload a key transmission line.

Full story ...

[Jubal Harshaw]

I can't believe no one else posted this yet, but I did a search on "blackout" and it didn't appear. Nevertheless, I think it's noteworthy that one of some Freepers favorite topics, CA blackouts, is back.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks, I had not heard about any blackouts!

They're B A C K!!!!

[Monti Cello]

It's 82 and breezy down here by the SF Bay. Beautiful!

[old3030]

I read this and really feel like doing one of those "back in my day" soliloquies. As in ... back in my day we did not consider temperatures in the 80's to be a "heat wave".

I made my first trip to Cali in an old Chevy without AC during the first week in June. I still think Needles is the ugliest place on earth.

[Sidebar Moderator]

Thanks for the note. Auto-excerpt can be tricky.

[ravingnutter]

I am having my own private heat wave here in TX...my A/C went out in my office, I have no windows that open and the maintenance guy can't come until tommorrow!

[null and void]

ping

[Inspectorette]

Women and minorities hardest hit ;-)

Surprised that it hasn't been blamed on Bush.

[NormsRevenge]

The Davi$ Legacy

[Dog Gone]

They're B A C K!!!!

And they're going to get more common. You're building a lot of new homes and stores in California, but you're not building any more power plants.

You have a couple of options. You can pass a law prohibiting any new buildings from being wired for electricity, or you can expect blackouts to get bigger and worse over the coming months and years.

Oh, I guess you could also allow power plants in Mexico to sell power to you, but your legislators oppose that.

Okay, okay, you also have a fourth option. You could allow more power plants to be built, BWAAAHAHAHA like that's going to happen....

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

You are smirking!!!

[Dog Gone]

I guess I am, because I would have thought that even the Democrat bureaucrats would have learned from the mistakes of Gray Davis by now.

Instead, because of a variety of factors, not least of which was the recession, California got a couple years of reprieve on their growing power needs.

Instead, they stuck their heads in the sand and didn't use the time to prepare for economic recovery and the future.

Well, it's the future and nothing has been done yet. All of us who were frequent posters on the previous threads knew this would happen again. So, I think we're all feeling vindicated.

I'm not saying that this is the start of a new and frequent wave of blackouts. The next one might be next year for all I know. But I do know that demand for power will continue to increase over time, and it will overtake supply unless supply is increased. That conclusion does not make me a genius. It means I see the obvious, which is something that California lawmakers can't.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Amen to that!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

My favorite!

[.38sw]

Wow! And it's only March! It's in the low 80's today in the east bay area (San Francisco bay area). I'm lovin' it. Of course, even with blackouts, we will see continued opposition to building new power plants and transmission lines. I guess we will be needing to buy a generator.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

It has cooled off down here in LA today, very nice and very comfortable!

See Dog Gone's comments on building power plants!

[backhoe]

A little Blast from the Past:

calpowercrisis:

To find all articles tagged or indexed using calpowercrisis, click below:
	click here >>>	calpowercrisis	<<< click here
(To view all FR Bump Lists, click here)

[.38sw]

It's going to get warmer here the next few days - I think it will be in the mid-80's by the weekend. I saw Dog Gone's comments, and he's right. I remember reading that the recession was California's dirty little secret as to why the rolling blackouts stopped - not because we were building new power plants, but because of the economic slowdown. Less demand for power. Things are picking up again, there are homes being built, and they're going to need power. Does Arnold have a plan to deal with this issue? Guess I'd best to check out his website and see.

[Amerigomag]

Good old Path 26.

Still blocking an adequate exchange of power from Washington/Oregon/NorCAL to SoCal and the Southwestern US/Mexico.

Increased capacity to 3400MW both directions and it's still not even adequate for a spring day.