NYT: A Power-Grid Report Suggests Some Dark Days Ahead

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/16/washington/16power.html?ei=5090&en=70e6d2b2c1fd5714&ex=1318651200&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

Companies are not building power plants and power lines fast enough to meet growing demand, according to a group recently assigned by the federal government to assure proper operation of the power grid.

The group, the North American Electric Reliability Council, in its annual report, to be released Monday, said the amount of power that could be generated or transmitted would drop below the target levels meant to ensure reliability on peak days in Texas, New England, the Mid-Atlantic area and the Midwest during the next two to three years.

The council was established in 1965 after a blackout across the Northeast, and has since set voluntary standards for the industry. After the blackout of 2003, which covered a vast swath of the Midwest, Northeast and Ontario, Congress set up a process that would eventually give the council the authority to fine American companies that did not follow certain operating standards. It is seeking a similar designation in Canada, since — electrically speaking — the border is irrelevant.

For years, the council has produced often-gloomy annual reports, but this is the first to be officially filed with federal agencies, and to recommend specific action.

The report says, for example, that utilities should be encouraged to pursue financial incentives for customers to cut use during peak hours, thereby lowering demand for new power plants and transmission lines. Financial incentives could reward customers’ installation of more efficient equipment or, more drastically, reward a factory for closing on a day when electricity supplies are expected to be tight.

[Skink]

1. This at a time when deregulation has led to record profits.

[Scribe]

8. Record Profits for who? ISOs, producers, distributors?

Remember, the issue here is transmission lines not generation. Source on record profits for transmission line owners?

[necso]

2. Cutting peak demand (usage) doesn't necessarily mean

cutting overall demand. It just means moving demand away from peak times.

It's conservation at a time (during intervals), but not necessarily over time.

And both forms of conservation should be encouraged by incentives (cheaper off-peak rates for consumers/businesses; supported discounts for critical conservation tools, like efficient lighting; etc) and education.

Thrift is a (natural) virtue.

[Double T]

3. Short the supply, drive up the prices..........

same corrupt corporate crap as the oil and gasoline companies with the limited refineries. When the hell are the American people going to wake up and start fighting back against ALL of these corrupt american corporate companies that are emptying their wallets, sending their jobs to Asia and destroying the future of the USA.

[Mika]

4. Gonna be a booming market for backup generator systems..

.. for those who get 6 figure tax cuts, of course.

[Warpy]

12. They're already pushing propane jobs

and that's here in NM, where power outages are few and far between and generally result from some drunk knocking a pole over, although a couple have been caused by forest fires under main transmission lines.

The problem here is that sharpers are selling refrigerated air conditioning systems and real estate people are demanding things like central air conditioning in new construction.

Most of us in old houses very sensibly use the old evaporative coolers, units that work very well 95% of the time in this very low humidity. Evaporative coolers cost about $15-50 a month (depending on how many and how long they're on) while central AC starts at $100 and goes to the stratosphere. Most of the increased demand in this area is from those damned AC units in newly constructed houses.

So they're selling junk that increases demand about 7 times while they're not building new facilities or upgrading the lines.

I'm thinking maybe I oughta get a generator, just in case. Wonder if I can find one that runs on wood.

[HereSince1628]

5. Rumor is Dem's plan to punish power utilities if D's get control

of congress--this from an LBN story on where the campaign donation money is leaning that was posted earlier today.

Taken with the other story in mind this article seems like a possible attempt to move public opinion to a place where it will apply pressure to protect the utilities which were overwhelmingly pro-Bush in their donations for the last 6 years.

[aquart]

13. Punish? I'd rather nationalize.

Privatization is an economy-wrecking failure.

[HereSince1628]

16. I don't know where you're at, but I've always had a private co.

supplying electricity and gas and so can't complain about privatization.

[reprobate]

18. Just one example of municipal vs. private suppliers

Here in the Orlando area, we live on the border between Orlando Utilities, a municipal owned generator, and Progress Energy, a politician owning private corporation.

For anyone familiar with the area we live just outside the Metro West service area which is supplies by Orlando Utilities. When Charlie, et al came thru two yrs ago there were NO power drops in the Metro West area, while those of us living off the Hiawassee road main feed line almost ALL experienced outages. We were out of electric power for ten days. You can't imagine how pleasant it is to live in florida without power - A/C, well pump, fans, etc. - for that period of time in summer.

The big difference between the two utilities is that Orlando Utilities has all their power lines underground, while Progress has all their feeds on poles in the air, ready to fall when the wind blows branches into them.

The real difference between them as far as customers are concerned is that the Municipal owned utility planned ahead. They knew that underground feeds cost more initially, but they also knew that this would guarantee far fewer outages, meaning less loss of revenue from outages, and less inconvenience to the customer who they are directly answerable to thru the city government.

On the other hand the private supplier did not opt to bury all their feeds when they bought out Florida Power. It would have cost too much on the quarterly bottom line. So they spent that money on repairs when the hurricanes came thru. A responsible company would have looked to the future and planned for the storms, but there are so few responsible corporation now. After all, they are answerable to their stockholders, and that means they have to show a larger dividend every quarter. Like airlines, that can be done by scrimping on maintenance and capital improvements.

I said it before and I'll say it again. Living with corporations is like swimming with sharks: you want to keep an eye on them, and you need to be able to kill them when they turn on you. Which they inevitably will, it's just their nature.

[aquart]

20. I have Con Ed. It leads to bitterness.

[nealmhughes]

28. TVA is our friend! Say it out loud, and often! When I had to move to

Tuscaloosa for grad school, after being used to TVA for years in my youth and then again as an undergrad, I was frankly shocked at what Alabama Power (A Southern Group company) racked up and in....especially in the summer! Just 50 miles north people were paying about 70% of that for their bills...

[yurbud]

26. how about oil companies too--and have first war crime trials for

the people who actually pushed for and profited from war, instead of just their cranky old butler Cheney and the morally and intellectually challenged Ruprecht Bush.

[lyonn]

6. Obviously the blackout in NY & E. Coast a few years ago was

not warning enough to spend the dollars on more grids, etc. and rather to pay their Execs big bucks for "their good work".

Deregulation at it best. These are companies that provide needed services not T shirts.

[pkz]

7. the repairs from snow storm

in upstate NY are obviously from non-maintenance.
Yes, the heavy wet snow was unusual and totally unexpected, but the poles are rotten, some of the insulators are the 1920 variety.
National Grid, known as National Greed in the power industry bought the whole NE grid system, an antiquated and rotten mammoth.

Just like down south, no maintenance, the plan is to replace when a disaster happens, with federal disaster aid monies.
Just ask any storm utility restoration crew, they will tell you, when they go in after a storm, they have lots of injuries and even deaths, attributed to rotten infrastructure.
After deregulation and the greed of power companies across this whole country, they have completely ignored maintenance.
My whole family is in the industry and really haven't had any work, other than storm work since the late 80's.
not to mention, the power lineman is a lost breed, world wide shortage.
Who would join an apprenticeship into a trade that only works in sporadic times of disaster?

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Duh! Which is why solar panels/shingles and turbines should be

popping up on homes all over the country. *Wishing I could afford some myself*

[aquart]

11. If we were serious about solar energy

We would MAKE them affordable.

I'd sure as hell rather see my government fund a transition to solar power than pay Halliburton for more war.

Wealthy homes should NOT be the only ones with solar panels. That's insane as an energy policy.

Bush has them for his home......but we can't get them for ours.

[necso]

14. If we end up wasting

$500,000,000,000 in Iraq, then that would have been fifty million (50,000,000) $10,000 tax credits for home (and small business) solar. (Add the zeros; 5 x 1 = 5.)

And considering the total (eventual) cost of the "war", probably much more could have been done -- be done (technology, especially manufacturing technology, research and development; electrical/high-efficiency vehicle tax-credits; etc).

...

When we evaluate technologies (products), we must consider things like reliability, lifetime, maintainability, reusability, flexibility (for different usages, circumstances of usage) and "disposal" -- in addition to actual, broadly-considered, costs.

[aquart]

21. $10,000 is an insufficient credit.

I'm talking SERIOUS. If we're serious, we fund at least 80% of the cost. This is the future of our country and we cannot afford to be lackadaisical about it.

[necso]

27. The dollar figure was chosen for convenience in calculations.

But no matter how it's distributed, it translates into the same number of watts (say, 50 gigawatts currently -- significantly more (4-5x, or even greater, hopefully) as the market/technology develops). And the more that you can get homeowners to contribute, the more capacity you get (these are property improvements after all, which have immediate, long-term cost-savings).

Of course, any actual incentive program would have to carefully thought out, with standards set (I've seen panels installed facing north), vulnerabilities analyzed, etc.

And, in practice, I'd spend a significant percentage of any "renewable"-energy dollars on supports for community-level wind-energy development, energy-usage efficiency improvements, etc.

Besides, it's all moot -- the money's squandered.

[GreenPartyVoter]

17. So true!

[aquart]

10. Can't build when the CEO needs a bonus.

[hughee99]

15. Sounds like they want to build some new power plants. n/t

[conscious evolution]

19. This group is full of it.

There is no shortage of generating capacity in this country.
My father spent 40+ years as an engineer in the generation,transmission and distribution field.Back when enron was screwing California over he explained it to me.Said that,due to several factors,the US uses 25% less power then we did in 1975.
Factors like more efficiant heating and ac,lower wattage lighting,better insulation in housing.

Also,remember all the steel mills that closed in the 80's?The power used by one mill in a week could power every computer in the country for a year.
Then add all of the power used by industry that moved offshore because of nafta to the eqution.

Power shortage?
Bullshit!!

This sounds like a group put together to give backing to the power industry's attempts to gut enviromental laws.

[Ezlivin]

22. You must not be from Texas

If you were (as I am) then you would be well aware of TXU's plans to build 11 additional coal-fired power plants.

Why? Because TXU says it needs to expand generating capacity to meet the demands of a growing population.

Get enlightened here: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/business/15212224.htm

[pkz]

23. there is no power shortage

no need for more power stations or generating plants.

But, what is needed is a whole new transmission and distribution system.
California is an example, they have been updating their systems.
Texas had its own grid, did you know that? all by their lonesome, a world unto themselves down there.

The northeast and the midwest are in serious trouble though.

[conscious evolution]

24. More stuff he said

This was when California was having the 'energy crises' a few years back.He knew then that it was all a scam.This was before Enron and all came out.That was when he explained the so-called shortage myth.He didn't know who and how,but he new for sure somebody was playing games.Someone else noticed too apparently.Wasn't this the the thing that opened up the enron can of worms?


'But, what is needed is a whole new transmission and distribution system.'
When that big blackout hit the northeast a couple of years ago he went on a rant when a bunch of power co. executives went before congress for taxpayer funds to replace the system. He said that existing power pole poles and lines are up-to-date as they are constantly being replaced because of things like storm damage and other incidents that bring them down
Or because they are being rerouted for some reason,like new developments or road construction.

He did say that the substations and other such equipment needed upgrading due to age and other factors.but he also said that the power companies had known that an overhaul had been needed for years and had put off setting aside funds to do so knowing that their friends in high places would pass the bill off onto the taxpayers.
He said that it was a case of big-business putting profit over there own infrastructure and expecting the rate and tax-payer to bail them out.


Another thing he said concerning the blackout itself. He is really surprised that major blackouts don't occur more often.He said that the way the grid is so interconnected that the sheer number of little 'short circuits' that occur everyday should build into major outages much more often.

And this is what this advisory group sounds like.A front to help energy companies to maximize their profits at our expense.

[yurbud]

25. time to de-deregulate and give the pols who voted for deregulation

a swift kick in the ass.

Deregulation is simply corruption, and with electricity, it puts the public at risk of blackmail as happened here in CA.