http://www.caiso.com/SystemStatus.html

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), April 11, 2001

Answers

Interesting load change. Is this normal for the morning wakeup demand/load?

-- Ken (n4wind@sonic.net), April 11, 2001.

A check of the website shows no "off the chart" load spike now. Was it just an error, or is it being intentionally suppressed? If you saved the web page, please post what was posted.

Although there is no "off the chart" spike, the system load is indeed unusually high for the time of day, well above the predicted load curve. Is this the early effects of the solar flare?

Preparedness tip: Be prepared for a sudden blackout at any time. Don't go out at night or into windowless buildings without a reliable flashlight or two. And, at home and work, have a flashlight at the ready and in a location where you can find it in the dark if a sudden blackout hits. This applies everywhere now, not just in California. This is a celestial event, affecting the entire planet, so grid overload "cascading" blackouts can hit anywhere, at any time, during this solar geomagnetic storm.

At T plus 467 days, still preppin' for Y2K-like effects (in Southern California).

-- Robert Riggs (rxr.999@worldnet.att.net), April 11, 2001.

Due to the incoming solar storm, the numbers are highly suspect. That is, the instrumentation supplying the values for the chart is producing "bad" quality data. This means the load may not be as high as shown. Another possible (but hopefully, not likely) effect could be a trip by a sensing protective element that thinks the data is real. I would imagine all "automatic" overload sensors are now being operating in "manual" mode with a human being watching the situation carefully.

-- PHO (owennos@bigfoot.com), April 11, 2001.

The first spike that I saw was transformed
into a curve. Could be bad sensors.

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), April 12, 2001.

The chart for Thursday April 12 is exhibiting unusual waviness. Also, my line voltage meter has shown unusual sporadic recurrent fluctuations today, of a roughly sinusoidal nature about the setpoint of 120 volts. This is evidence of "ringing" oscillations in the grid line voltage. This "ringing" is probably caused by the solar geomagnetic storm activity. This is the type of effect that can cause grid problems and even collapse, if it becomes more intense, especially if the reserve margin is already low. This is true anywhere in the world, not just Calfornia or the Western U. S.

-- Robert Riggs (rxr.999@worldnet.att.net), April 12, 2001.