Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 00:24:42 -0500 (EST) From: Tim McMillen <timcm@umich.edu> To: "Crist J. Clark" <cjclark@reflexnet.net> Cc: Jeremiah Gowdy <jgowdy@home.com>, Jason <kib@mediaone.net>, Doug Young <dougy@bryden.apana.org.au>, ldmservices@charter.net, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: CA Power Shortage (was Re: Why do you support Yahoo!) Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.4.10.10012202355340.23356-100000@joust.gpcc.itd.umich.edu> In-Reply-To: <20001219212210.M96105@149.211.6.64.reflexcom.com>
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Yes, but what everyone involved knows, but that nobody (i.e. the press) seems to talk about is that even if more power production capacity was online in CA, the power grid could not handle a whole lot more. Yes, the current problems are definitely exacerbated by a lot of power plants being offline (which it is not known that that is due to them trying to raise the prices, that is just an allegation currently in the courts), and not many new ones being produced (perhaps due it being bad politics--environmental groups try to stop them and seem successful). The real problem is that the power grid is so old and so near breaking down in some places that it could not handle all that much more power capacity anyway. I believe the limit is somewhere slightly (but not enough--especially considering the need for breathing room) above the current power production capacity, but I don't think there are any hard numbers on this and I couldn't find any guesses in print. I do not know why the power grid issue does not get much press. Apparently it is well known. There was an entire NPR program about it this summer. They had an interview with a few power engineers that were talking about the frailty of the power grid in CA (maybe other places too, it's just coming to a head in CA). It seems the problem is economic and political. There is no economic incentive for the power companies to invest in power grid upgrades. Why should a power company spend billions on something that benefits their competitors as much as themselves. Hint: they won't. It is the classic economic free-rider problem. Why spend money when you can take a free ride on what somebody else spends. And while I generally subscribe to the Laisse Faire school of thought, it is generally considered that there is no solution to the free rider problem (in public utility cases) except for government intervention. And the CA government does not seem able to get enough agreement on how to do what many people know needs to get done. So with the sad state of the power grid, the low rate of power production capacity increase, the high rate of power use increase and the large number of years that a power grid upgrade would take even if it were already planned and started today (I don't believe anything has been even planned), the power problem in CA will get MUCH worse before it gets better. Can you say weekly scheduled rolling blackouts? Ok, hopefully it won't go that far, but it doesn't look like there's a quick fix possible. Sorry for the extremely off topic post, but it will affect many if not all of us. Tim On Tue, 19 Dec 2000, Crist J. Clark wrote: > On Tue, Dec 19, 2000 at 06:32:53PM -0800, Jeremiah Gowdy wrote: > > > You woldnt believe. comes with the fact I live way out in the boonies. > > > Everytime the wind blows too hard power comes and goes....if its real bad > > it > > > can go down for hours/days. > > > > > > and I live in a state not really known for wind problems. Just the long > > > haul power lines are stretched a long ways between poles and the wind can > > > invoke a safety mechanism that opens the curcuit in case power line if > > broke > > > under the stress. > > > > I live in California. We're almost always in a stage-3 power emergency > > anymore. Since the power companies were deregulated here (not considered > > utilities anymore basically), they have shut down a bunch of plants for > > "maintenance" (really so they can jack up the prices). Our power bill has > > gone up to double what it once was. > > That's really strange. A lot of the current shortage is due to the > fact that the power companies are legally not allowed to pass higher > costs to the consumers. A lot of out-of-state power producers will not > import to California because they can't get the market price and they > are afraid the power companies will not have the money to pay them > with rates capped like they are. > -- > Crist J. Clark cjclark@alum.mit.edu > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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