No kidding, on Sunday, a nearly full page ad was taken out by BC Hydro in Canada. A table lamp was shining brightly and the clock read (drum roll plllease) 12:01 AM, 2000. But, like any good consumer, I read the small print. And yep, they actually said/admitted/revealed that staff will be on hand to run operations 'manually' just in case. Like they even know how to do that? Somehow, I doubt it!!!!

Sam I Am

-- samIam (who@cares.already), November 23, 1999

Answers

I do not like Green Eggs and Ham, I do not like them Sam I Am

Sorry, couldn't resist!!

-- Idonotlikethemhereorthere (karlacalif@aol.com), November 23, 1999.

samiam

I am sooo glad to hear that as apparently we in Washington state share some mutual power sources and our grid are linked. How many squirrels do you think they have to turn those big turbines? If they have enough, it would seem the next big question would be do we have enough of a back up supply of nuts to keep the little guys going? (Well, I'm sure we have enough "nuts", it's just are they of edible kind that the squirrels like?)

This is closely related to the "manual propulsion" contingency plan they have down here to keep the ferries operating. Do you have such a thing for BC Ferries??

-- Valkyrie (anon@please.xnet), November 23, 1999.

samiam

I am sooo glad to hear that as apparently we in Washington state share some mutual power sources and our grid are linked. How many squirrels do you think they have to turn those big turbines? If they have enough, it would seem the next big question would be do we have enough of a back up supply of nuts to keep the little guys going? (Well, I'm sure we have enough "nuts", it's just are they of edible kind that the squirrels like?)

This is closely related to the "manual propulsion" contingency plan they have down here to keep the ferries operating. Do you have such a thing for BC Ferries?? ?

-- Valkyrie (anon@please.xnet), November 23, 1999.

Sure, BC Ferries has a manual back-override-plan B contingency. All males over 18 years of age row in unison, while a BC ferries employee shouts:'ONE-TWO-THREE-ROW-ONE-TWO-THREE-ROW-ONE-TWO-THREE-ROW-ONE-TWO- THREE-ROW-ONE-TWO-THREE-ROW-ONE-TWO-THREE-ROW-ONE-TWO-THREE-ROW!!' Females over 18 carry buckets of water and ladels to drown our thirst. The captain, well, he cracks the whip of course.

Also read that the BC government has been secretly storing nuts for the last 3 years in underground silos. You heard it here first...

-- samIam (dr@sue.ss), November 23, 1999.

Valkyrie, I'm not sure I'm up to speed (sorry) on the manual propulsion issue. Do we get a discounted fair if we help row? Should we bring our own oars?

-- bw (home@puget.sound), November 23, 1999.

That's discounted FARE. Fast fingers, slow brain.

-- bw (home@puget.sound), November 23, 1999.

You guys are worried about how they will "keep the turbines spinning"? You do know what "Hydro" means, don't you? Unless Y2K repeals the law of gravity, you should be OK.

-- rms200 (rms200@hotmail.com), November 23, 1999.

Sam

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH, I live on Vancouver Island, the BC Ferries comment was just to funny :o)

In case you didn't know the new Cat Ferries had non compliant equipment installed in it. Unbelievable. The BC Gov says the Equipment has been upgraded to make it compliant, guess we will find out *VBG*

On Rick Cowles site there is lots on BC Hydro and most of it good. I expect minimal problems but there is always the element of the unknown but they stated that generation and transmission would not have been effected by the non compliant equipment found. The equipment has been upgraded and they are confident the lights will be on at the Ledge.

-- Brian (imager@home.com), November 23, 1999.

Attempting to manually operate in a manner other than normal is what caused Chernobyl....

I hope they practice.

-- ng (cantprovideemail@none.com), November 23, 1999.

I don't think we expected Y2k to alter gravity, although a little less gravity helps, sometimes. It's more like timing glitches might affect how electrically operated valves and gates work, such that none of that gravity-fed water can GET to the turbines.

Even so, I'd rather have hydro power than any other kind. The midwest and east, with lots of coal generation and nukes, could be in serious trouble. I understand the coal plants are hoarding coal, and I guess this winter we'll be hoarding water on the hills. If you have nuke power, better order some firewood quick.

-- bw (home@puget.sound), November 23, 1999.

Sam I Am, Hydro stations are relatively simple to operate manually. During our Y2K Scada upgrade we ran one of our hydro stations manually for 19 days. At first we had one extra staff member on duty, but it soon became apparent that he wasn't really needed, and for most of that period of time we managed with just our regular roster. A point to remember is that most hydro operators have always operated manually, and it is only in recent years that they have had to be re-trained to use SCADA.

For more information on generationand control see Electricity Generation and Distribution 101.

Malcolm

-- Malcolm Taylor (taylorm@es.co.nz), November 23, 1999.

When I lived in BC from '92-'93, I was thoroughly impressed with the markedly lower level of 'hype,' 'spin,' and 'bs' by the citizens, compared to my paisanos back in the States. Almost made me want to be come a 'landed immigrant' and chuck Bill Clinton's Amerika for good. Does not surprise me how forthcoming BC Hydro was in the above interchange.

(Why didn't I make the move? Wifey didn't make friends, and I was deeply shaken by the Socialist bent in politics [to say nothing of the 3 month's delay The Health Care System handed me in getting a lower GI workup for some classical cancer symptoms, which thankfully turned out negative on my return to the States.])

Bottom line for me: hydro power is the least scary of the continents' power sources, and the English tendency towards honesty and straight talk still prevalent in the Province would make me a lot less nervous than I am now -- by depending on Brown's Ferry #1 and #2, the nuke part of our local north Alabama's grid source. (On July 17th we were assured by our industry leaders at a big community meeting that 'the entire Y2K power grid in this part of Alabama is 100% Y2K ready.' That made it hard for me to take the gov't report sometime in August, that Brown's #1 and #2 acknowledged they would not be ready till October 31st. Are they 'ready' now? Don't know.)

Makes me a little homesick for North Van and the drive up the Coast to Whistler.

Bill

-- William J. Schenker, MD (wjs@linkfast.net), November 23, 1999.