Free Republic

1) What happened in Turkey on March 31? At 10:36 a.m., a massive blackout hit Turkey. Out of the 81 Turkish provinces, electricity was not totally cut only in the eastern province of Van, which receives some of its energy from Iran. In total, more than 76 million citizens were affected in one way or another. Described by the Energy Ministry as the worst national blackout since the 1999 Marmara earthquake, the outage wreaked havoc in daily life throughout the country with mass transit and traffic lights ceasing to work, hospitals sounding the alarm, factories halting production, mobile phone connections...

Official won't rule out cyberattack The Turkish capital, Ankara, some 250 miles from Istanbul, was also affected. The outage extended to 45 of Turkey's 81 provinces. Turkey's semiofficial Anadolu Agency quoted Energy Minister Taner Yildiz as saying the cause of the outage was unknown. Yildiz, speaking during a visit to Slovakia, said he could neither confirm nor deny that a cyberattack had triggered the blackout, the Anadolu Agency reported. Flightradar24, which maps real-time flight data on the Internet, tweeted that the outage was "affecting flights," and said 11 of its 16 air traffic monitoring systems receivers -- as distinct from...

South Africa imposed rolling power cuts for the first time since 2008 on Thursday as it struggled to cope with coal shortages and technical problems caused by recent heavy rains. State-owned electricity firm Eskom said incessant downpours over the past week had flooded mines and left stockpiles too wet to use in its coal-fired power plants. . . . . . . . . . "We do not believe we have a crisis in energy at this present time," said Water Minister Edna Molewa.

Renewable energy is blamed for jeopardizing Europe’s energy security this winter, a new study has found. EurActiv France reports. The French multinational company Cap Gemini warned in their European Observatory of Energy Markets that energy security in Europe was under threat and that the region could soon be exposed to massive power outages during the winter, due to a lack of production capacity. They blame wind turbines. …

Electricity shortages could mean chilly winter for some November 12, 2011 People across most of the country should be preparing to bundle up. With many nuclear power plants offline since the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, electric utilities in some regions will likely face difficulties securing enough power this winter. Kansai Electric Power Co., which depends on nuclear power for more than 50 percent of its electricity generation, expects that its supply capacity will be 7.1 percent below peak demand in January and 9.5 percent in February. Similarly, Tohoku Electric Power Co.'s capacity will be 3.4...

ERCOT’s May11 report to the Public Utility Commission on the impact of the proposed environmental regulations did not address the impact of SO2 restrictions on coal plants in ERCOT because these restrictions on Texas were not included as part of the EPA’s earlier rule proposal. We have not had time to fully analyze the entire 1,323-page Cross-State Rule released July 7 or to communicate with the generation owners regarding what their intentions will be. However, initial implications are that the SO2 requirements for Texas added at the last stage of the rule development will have a significant impact on coal...

Small generators, big demand / Makers struggle to keep up as blackout worries diminish inventory Mamoru Kurihara / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer With power shortages anticipated this summer, small generators have become popular items. Such generators were previously used mainly by people operating businesses such as street stalls, but demand has grown among general consumers since the Great East Japan Earthquake hit the nation on March 11. Manufacturers have been hard-pressed to keep up with the rising demand. Common models of small generators run on gasoline or canned gas fuels and produce power for up to 20 hours. Makers have...

Who Turned Out the Lights in China? Last Monday, the State Grid Corp. of China predicted this summer’s power shortage—a shortfall larger than the total installed capacity of Argentina—will be the worst ever, even more serious than the one in 2004. We have not even reached the peak season, and already power is in short supply. In Zhejiang province, a center of small industry, factories are getting power only three days a week, and limits have been imposed since the end of February. There is also power rationing for Zhejiang homes and office buildings. The situation in the Pearl River...

China To Face Worst-Ever Power Shortage This Summer BEIJING (Nikkei)--State Grid Corp. of China said Monday that the nation's electricity supply may fall short of demand by a record 40 million kilowatts in the summer, the equivalent of 40 nuclear reactors. And many firms, including Japanese companies, have already started running into problems. In China, more than 70% of electric power is generated by coal-fired plants. Utilities are holding down output because the government is reluctant to raise rates as coal prices rise. The nation's worst power shortage so far took place in 2004, with demand exceeding supply by 35...

Shanghai on blackouts brinkJuly 6, 2005 Shanghai is on the verge of citywide blackouts with the 10th day of a heat wave sending electricity usage soaring to fresh peak records. Loads reached a record 16.4 million kilowatts this week compared with a high of 15 million kilowatts last year, the Shanghai Morning Post reported Tuesday. Although two new generators have come online since last year, raising capacity by 1.32 million kilowatts, there is not enough supply with temperatures hovering around 39 degrees Celsius. With all city generating units running at full tilt and grids outside supplying an extra 4.83 million...

Energy crisis drives high-tech firms back to Taiwan TAIPEI - The deteriorating power supply situation in mainland China has pushed some Taiwan investors to relocate back home, with the Southern Taiwan Science Park having received NT$1.515 billion (US$44.5 million) in investments this year as of last week, according to a park administration official. Tai Chien, director of the Southern Taiwan Science Park Administration, said that the investment capital came from six high-tech companies, including three precision machinery, two electronics goods makers and one chemical material producer. One of them began construction August 13, he added. Worsening power shortages in mainland...

Restricted Maintenance Operations [200401436] The ISO is anticipating high loads and temperatures across the ISO Control Area. The California ISO is declaring Restricted Maintenance Operations for the period from 07/20/2004 07:00 through 07/20/2004 22:00. Restricted maintenance operations, as detailed in ISO Operating Procedure E-509, will be in effect. Market participants are cautioned to avoid actions, which may unnecessarily jeopardize generator availability. This message is from Market Operations at the California ISO.

<p>In a pair of decisions Thursday, state regulators voted to shift as much as $6 billion in costs onto consumers over the next year to help pay for the continued fallout from California's energy crisis.</p> <p>The resulting cost to the average customer of California's two biggest utilities -- Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Edison -- will be at least $270 in 2003, according to estimates Thursday.</p>

Here is the Caiso stituation graph for today, 11 July 2002:

The San Onofre nuclear power plant returned its Unit 2 reactor to service this week, concluding a 43-day routine shutdown for refueling and maintenance, Southern California Edison said. Operators at the plant started the reactor Tuesday, and it was running yesterday at 37 percent of power, said plant spokesman Ray Golden. The reactor was expected to reach full power by Saturday, but it could be operating at capacity as early as today, he said. Edison hired 1,400 contract workers, supplementing its own work force of 1,800, to perform numerous maintenance jobs during this latest shutdown. Among them was a detailed...

<p>Developers delay half their projects, but state officials don't fear shortages yet.</p> <p>Half of California's proposed power plants have become mired in delays that could last months or years, often because their developers say they cannot afford to move ahead right now.</p>