California power emergency called as power plants fail

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -- California entered a power emergency for the fifth consecutive day Friday as a heatwave continued to grip the state.

The California Independent System Operator (ISO), which operates most of the state's power grid, called for voluntary power conservation issuing a so-called stage one emergency.

Industry sources said mechanical failures at two power plants in southern California led to the loss of about 550 megawatts of generation, triggering the emergency.

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The ISO had declared so-called stage two emergencies, which result in the loss of power to some industrial and commercial customers, on the preceding four days. These customers get power at a discount in return for agreeing to have their service cut when supplies are tight.

On both Tuesday and Wednesday the ISO came within a whisker of declaring a so-called stage three emergency which would had led to rolling blackouts across the state.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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U.S. Department of Energy
North American Electric Reliability Council
California Energy Commission

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