New energy plants, measures to conserve preserving power

WASHINGTON -- Through nine straight days of humid, 90-plus degree heat, air conditioners kept humming across the Northeast, and only a brush fire could knock out the power briefly in California where blackouts were common in recent summers.

After several years of power woes, the nation's electricity grids are holding up this summer despite record demand in many areas. Experts cite increased attention to conservation in California and new power plants churning out more juice from Texas to New England.

In addition, intense scrutiny of electricity markets unleashed by the Enron scandal and the California shortages of 2000 and 2001 may be keeping traders from manipulating supplies and prices.

While storms have caused brief outages in New Jersey and elsewhere, there has been no shortage of electricity. The North American Electric Reliability Council anticipates adequate power to meet summer demand with excess reserves ranging from 15 percent to more than 30 percent in most parts of the country.

"Everyone seems to be holding up," says Ellen Vancko, a spokeswoman for the industry-backed group that keeps track of grid reliability.

Coming on line

New power plants generating nearly 10,000 additional megawatts of electricity were coming on line between March and September, according to the reliability council. California alone has new plants producing 4,300 megawatts this summer, according to state officials. A megawatt is enough electricity to serve 700 homes.

In contrast to the havoc caused by shortages and soaring prices the past two years, California is experiencing a mini-glut of power this summer. With demand in check and more production -- both from increased hydropower and new power plants -- the grid has easily met peak demand most days.

"Our biggest challenges this year were fires," says Stephanie McCorkle, a spokeswoman for the California ISO, the agency that manages the state's electricity grid. Several brush fires damaged transmission lines and caused brief power disruptions in late June in the southern part of the state.

So far this year, the California ISO has issued two emergency alerts because of low power reserves -- on July 9 and 10 when temperatures and demand soared -- compared with 65 alerts the first five months of 2001. Neither alert resulted in an outage, although some industrial customers curtailed use in accord with their energy contracts, officials said.

Power systems in both the Midwest and Northeast also kept pace with record demand brought about by scorching heat the past few weeks.

"We've experienced electricity demand beyond what we've ever seen before, but our system has continued to perform well," said Sabrina Davis, a spokeswoman for Chicago's Commonwealth Edison, which drew intense criticism for a string of power outages three summers ago.

Despite soaring temperatures across the Midwest, "We haven't seen any major problems," said Mary Lynn Webster, a spokeswoman for the agency that manages the electricity grid from Ohio to the Dakotas.

Much the same story is told by grid managers from Virginia to Maine, including in the New York City area where transmission bottlenecks have always been a cause for worry.

Last month, Consolidated Edison, the utility that serves New York, produced more electricity than it ever has in July. "The only interruption of power that we had came because of thunder storms," says Con Ed spokesman Joseph Petta. "The supplies in New York are tight, but adequate."

Much of the Northeast just concluded nine straight days of 90-day plus heat, but air conditioners -- save for some storm-related outages -- kept humming.

"We've been in record territory for demand," says Ray Dotter, a spokesman for PJM Interconnection, which manages the power grid that serves 25 million people in seven states from New Jersey to Virginia and into eastern Ohio.

The PJM issued daily advisories for people to conserve electricity, but never came close to running out of power. One reason is that the region has added 4,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the last year.

"Demand is still high," says Stephen Allen, spokesman for the Northeast Power Coordinating Council, "but we have more power plants and the grid operators have been able to compensate for some of the transmission bottlenecks."

For example, in Connecticut, where grid congestion has caused problems in the past, officials installed a number of small generators last spring to avoid shortages, said Allen.

Still, many energy experts worry about the future.

Financial and accounting questions surrounding the energy industry have resulted in canceling plans for scores of new power plants that were to go on line in coming years. Utilities also acknowledge that power grids remain woefully inadequate to deal with future demand growth.

"An investment retrenchment is roaring through the power industry, Larry Makovich, a director of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, told a Senate hearing recently. He said a third of the proposed power plants have been canceled since the beginning of the year, including many in the West.

"We're just in a temporary lull," warns Pat Wood, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. "We don't have what we need in the way of power plants. Ultimately, we need the investment back."