For the fourth day in a row, the California Independent System Operator declared a Stage 3 emergency, signifying the possibility rolling blackouts could be instituted again Friday.
At 5:16 a.m.PST, the grid operator asked Southern California Edison Co. and other investor-owned utilities to institute voluntary load curtailment programs. The agency directed SCE to reduce its electrical load by 1,000 Mw or enough power to serve 1 million homes.
While the ISO has not called for rotating outages, the grid operator said conditions remain dynamic and "may change suddenly with little or no notice." The agency said it is experiencing continued severe winter supply limitations and planned and unplanned power plant outages, as well as increased demand for electricity.
Demand is forecast to peak at 29,375 Mw today at 6 p.m.. Southern California Edison and the ISO appealed to customers to reduce their electricity consumption and practice power conservation today so that California can avoid a repeat of the rotating outages that northern Californians have had to deal with this week.
The ISO called for rotating blackouts in northern California Wednesday and Thursday. Interruptible load customers have been off line up to 18 hr/day, much longer than called for in most contracts with utilities.
At a briefing Thursday, Kellan Fluckiger, ISO chief operating officer, was optimistic the state would squeak by without supply interruptions that have begun to jeopardize the state's economy. Meanwhile, California Gov. Gray Davis signed a a bill late Thursday that will prevent the sale of more utility generating assets and the Legislature approved a measure that will provide $400 million to the Department of Water Resources so it can continue to buy power on the spot wholesale market. Davis is expected to sign the bill Friday.
Davis has already signed into law a measure that will allow him to appoint new members to the board of the ISO.
