Nevada Power declares shortage warnings

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Thursday, June 29, 2000 Copyright ) Las Vegas Review-Journal

Nevada Power declares shortage warnings A utility official says no outages are expected, but large customers are being asked to conserve. By John G. Edwards Review-Journal

Nevada Power declared a "code yellow" alert for electricity shortages Wednesday for the second consecutive day and took the additional step of asking big customers to cut their consumption. Despite the low-level warning, Steve Rigazio, president of the electric utility, said he does not expect any local power outages this summer. "We're not there. We haven't been there. We haven't been close to that," Rigazio said. As recently as June 14, Nevada Power Vice President Matt Davis said the utility did not expect to issue any yellow alerts this summer.

Richard McIntire, a member of the Public Utilities Commission, responded to concerns about summertime power outages by calling for an investigation of electric power reliability at the state's two largest electric companies: Nevada Power and Sierra Pacific Power Co. of Reno. "I'm concerned, and I'm concerned about the very kind of issues that we're having in the south," McIntire said Wednesday. This week's yellow alerts are the first that Rigazio can recall since August 1996, when several Western states were hit by an outage after transmission lines touched trees in northern Oregon and caused a 500-kilovolt line to short out. The company did not publicly announce Tuesday's yellow alert. The alerts were triggered by power plant outages in California and Southern Nevada.

Several generation plants in California were down Wednesday while Nevada Power had temporary outages at Clark Station in Henderson; Harry Allen at Apex and Reid Gardner power units at Moapa. The Nevada Power plants were down because of routine repairs, officials said. All but one power unit at Clark Station were operating by late afternoon. While Wednesday's high temperature of 105 degrees cooked Las Vegas, the heat was not unusual. "For this time of year, it's very normal," said Charlie Schlott, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "We stay this way probably through mid-August."

Nevada Power usually records peak demand for electricity around the Fourth of July, Rigazio said. "The (power) markets are very tight and very expensive," Rigazio continued. "This is a West Coast phenomena. It's not just a Nevada problem." The California Independent System Operator, a nonprofit organization overseeing transmission lines in that state, declared "stage two" alerts on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. That indicates that energy reserves in California slipped below 5 percent. The next stage calls for involuntary "rolling blackouts," in which utilities turn off power to certain areas for short periods, then restore power to that area while the electricity is cut off temporarily in another area.

Nevada Power has an equivalent for California's "stage two" alert. The utility's next step is a "code red," which signals the start of rolling blackouts. Code yellow indicates that the utility might be unable to meet demand in the valley if another major event reduces power supplies to Southern Nevada. The utility asked casinos and other major building owners today to curtail electric consumption and to turn on their backup generation units to increase power supplies.

All four of Station Casino's properties started conservation programs, including turning off unnecessary lights and adjusting air conditioner thermostats. "We're doing everything they asked us to do," said Jack Taylor, a spokesman for the company. Five properties operated by MGM Mirage took conservation measures. "We're on standby to do whatever they need us to do, but we do not need to go back to our backup power," spokeswoman Jenn Michaels said. Nevada Power urged small customers to set their air conditioning thermostats four to six degrees higher than normal, use large heat-producing appliances late at night only and to rely on fans

http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2000/Jun-29-Thu-2000/news/13871996.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), June 29, 2000


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