California narrowly averted rolling electricity blackouts Thursday evening as 2,000 more Mw became available through conservation and from the California Department of Water Resources.
Jim Detmers, managing director of grid operations for the California Independent System Operator, said conservation in the state and especially reductions in power use by California state facilities helped ease the crisis. The water resources department shut off pumps and went to the �extreme� to provide additional power, Detmers said.
He also said power was sent from the states of Oregon and Washington. Usually, there is about 1,500 Mw of power loaded on the California/Oregon interconnect but by late Thursday afternoon the load was running at 4,200 Mw, he said.
The ISO had declared a Stage 3 electrical emergency since mid-morning as its load forecast was greater than available resources. Unless a shortage of 1,500 Mw was made up, the Stage 3 meant the ISO would request utilities to cut off power to customers in a series of rotating blackouts.
Even as late as 3 p.m. PST, the ISO was still predicting blackouts by 6 p.m.
As much as 13,000 Mw, or a third of the state's generation capacity, was offline because of unexpected problems.
ISO said the generation outages would continue Friday morning. The ISO has issued a Power Watch Day calling for continued conservation during peak times on Friday. Detmers said a Stage 2 would be in effect but did not know if Stage 3 conditions would be reached again.
The tight generation supply will be relieved over the weekend as 6,000 Mw are anticipated to return to service. A 2,000 Mw nuclear power plant will also return to full power as a winter storm subsides.
