Austin hit with rolling blackouts
05:18 PM CDT on Monday, April 17, 2006
KVUE News
Parts of Austin experienced power outages Monday afternoon due to rolling blackouts.
Austin Energy told KVUE News the rolling blackouts were put in place because of a very high demand for electricity.
The state's power grid, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc. (ERCOT), released a statement and called it an emergency situation.
Officials say there was not enough power generation to serve the demand, thanks to unseasonably hot temperatures and power plants out for maintenance. Blackouts were ordered for areas across Texas.
Temperatures reached record highs for the second day in a row in Central Texas. The temperature at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) reached 100 degrees by 5 p.m. The previous record, set in 1987, was 90 degrees. Temperatures across Central Texas were in the upper 90s and low 100s.
Temperatures were expected to reach record highs again on Tuesday.
Last month, energy usage was up six percent compared to March last year. So far in April, energy use is up 16 percent compared to last year.
Customers have been asked to reduce their usage of power to the lowest level possible, including:
-- Setting thermostats at 78 degrees or higher.
-- Not using use any electric lighting, appliances or equipment unless absolutely necessary for health or safety.
-- Not opening refrigerators and freezers more than necessary.
ERCOT officials said they were working to return operations to normal.
Austin Energy officials said they hoped the blackouts would end by 6 p.m. Monday.
kvue.com
80% of TX in rolling blackouts.
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80% of TX in rolling blackouts.
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TexasStooge
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Record breaking heat leads to blackouts
From WFAA ABC 8
After thousands of TXU energy delivery customers were impacted by rolling blackouts throughout North Texas, the company is being criticized by many customers for the unexpected surprise.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc., who operates the power grid that serves the majority of the state's electric load including Dallas', declared an emergency situation across the state Monday afternoon.
Late Monday afternoon, the council called on transmission companies, like TXU Electric Delivery, to temporarily cut off electricity to neighborhoods on a rolling basis after energy usage started to spike.
The transmission companies said they wouldn't cut off critical customers, like hospitals or nursing homes, said ERCOT spokesman Paul Wattles. He also said it’s been a few years since Texas initiated rolling blackouts.
Carol Peters, a spokeswoman for TXU Electric Delivery, said the company rotated blackouts 15 minutes at a time. The company, which operates power lines, cuts off power to residential areas first, then businesses, and screens out hospitals.
That meant a Texas household could experience a 15-minute blackout, then power would be restored. In all, anywhere from 300,000 to 600,000 customers were impacted.
“With the temperatures as high as they are, there’s a lot of demand on the system, it’s an emergency situation at ERCOT,” said Ms. Peters. “This is a planned procedure in response to an emergency. It’s a normal response to an abnormal situation.”
Officials said the problem is that many power generators shut down in April for maintenance. So the supply of electricity couldn't meet the unexpected demand that the heat caused.
While officials said their emergency plan prevented a massive blackout, it did cause some problems.
Police scrambled as traffic lights went black at intersection after intersection all across Texas around rush hour time.
Some of the locations that were listed as experiencing brownout problems included Dallas, North Dallas, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, Arlington, Carrollton, Garland and Plano.
The corporation also urged the public to use emergency conservation measures in an attempt to get the situation under control. However, around 6:45 p.m. ERCOT lifted the request.
ERCOT called on Texans to cut electricity use to only essential needs. They urged customers to raise their thermostats to at least 78 degrees and to turn off all non-essential electrical appliances.
Utilities said they don't expect demand to eclipse supply in April. They use mild spring weather for maintenance to get ready for the big energy drain in summer.
The utility is urging all customers to cut back on power usage Tuesday.
Jim Douglas, Dan Ronan and The Dallas Morning News contributed to this report
From WFAA ABC 8
After thousands of TXU energy delivery customers were impacted by rolling blackouts throughout North Texas, the company is being criticized by many customers for the unexpected surprise.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc., who operates the power grid that serves the majority of the state's electric load including Dallas', declared an emergency situation across the state Monday afternoon.
Late Monday afternoon, the council called on transmission companies, like TXU Electric Delivery, to temporarily cut off electricity to neighborhoods on a rolling basis after energy usage started to spike.
The transmission companies said they wouldn't cut off critical customers, like hospitals or nursing homes, said ERCOT spokesman Paul Wattles. He also said it’s been a few years since Texas initiated rolling blackouts.
Carol Peters, a spokeswoman for TXU Electric Delivery, said the company rotated blackouts 15 minutes at a time. The company, which operates power lines, cuts off power to residential areas first, then businesses, and screens out hospitals.
That meant a Texas household could experience a 15-minute blackout, then power would be restored. In all, anywhere from 300,000 to 600,000 customers were impacted.
“With the temperatures as high as they are, there’s a lot of demand on the system, it’s an emergency situation at ERCOT,” said Ms. Peters. “This is a planned procedure in response to an emergency. It’s a normal response to an abnormal situation.”
Officials said the problem is that many power generators shut down in April for maintenance. So the supply of electricity couldn't meet the unexpected demand that the heat caused.
While officials said their emergency plan prevented a massive blackout, it did cause some problems.
Police scrambled as traffic lights went black at intersection after intersection all across Texas around rush hour time.
Some of the locations that were listed as experiencing brownout problems included Dallas, North Dallas, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, Arlington, Carrollton, Garland and Plano.
The corporation also urged the public to use emergency conservation measures in an attempt to get the situation under control. However, around 6:45 p.m. ERCOT lifted the request.
ERCOT called on Texans to cut electricity use to only essential needs. They urged customers to raise their thermostats to at least 78 degrees and to turn off all non-essential electrical appliances.
Utilities said they don't expect demand to eclipse supply in April. They use mild spring weather for maintenance to get ready for the big energy drain in summer.
The utility is urging all customers to cut back on power usage Tuesday.
Jim Douglas, Dan Ronan and The Dallas Morning News contributed to this report
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TexasStooge
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- Posts: 38127
- Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:22 pm
- Location: Irving (Dallas County), TX
- Contact:
Cities learn from blackout
By TONY HARTZEL and ROY APPLETON / The Dallas Morning News
Monday’s rolling 15-minute blackouts caught some cities, police departments and Dallas Area Rapid Transit off guard, leaving them with no warning of when or where neighborhoods and traffic signals would lose power.
At DART, one of the first indications of power supply problems came when staffers in the rail operations nerve center looked at their wall-sized control board and started noticing electricity disruptions up and down the lines.
"We didn’t receive any notice. We just started experiencing it," said DART spokesman Morgan Lyons.
TXU Electric Delivery began the blackouts as soon as it received a directive from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s electric grid operator, said TXU spokeswoman Carol Peters.
"We notified the police as soon as we knew," she said. "It was a fast-moving, dynamic situation. We had to act quickly to avoid a blackout."
Although ERCOT predicted no disruptions Tuesday, local agencies made tentative plans. The city of Richardson and DART deployed generators along major intersections on Central Expressway and beside light-rail line switches. In addition, at least two cities also have plans to install battery backup power supplies at selected major intersections within the next few years.
But getting through another round of power disruptions in Dallas could require good communication from motorists and police, said Alex Wong, a program manager for traffic field operations for the city of Dallas.
Dallas traffic officials first heard of the impending blackouts from media reports Monday. As one intersection after another lost power, the city relied on police officers on patrol and motorist calls to Dallas’ 311 incident reporting phone number to help them position workers and temporary stop signs where needed.
If traffic signals have no power, motorists should call 311 to report it. Motorists also should treat the intersections as a four-way stop before proceeding, Mr. Wong said.
Because the power disruptions lasted only 15 minutes in a given area, traffic flow on Monday "really wasn’t too bad," Mr. Wong said. "When there’s suddenly no power at an intersection, that can cause a little chaos. But as you start having backups, people pay more attention."
In Duncanville, officials also are ready to place stop signs at intersections that lose electricity, and police officers will be available to manage the city’s busiest intersections, said City Manager Kent Cagle. In Richardson, the city had problems Monday at 28 intersections, but was able to use generators to restore some signals for rush-hour traffic, said Assistant City Manager Mike Wanchick.
Carrollton and Farmers Branch city officials said the brownouts only affected a handful of traffic lights in those cities. Carrollton would typically send out generators to restore traffic light operations, but did not need to Monday because power was restored so quickly.
The power disruptions slowed but did not stop DART light-rail service Monday. The transit agency has established procedures, which include running slowly and relying on visual cues instead of train signals. In addition, the agency sets out portable generators to provide power to track switching equipment where rail lines converge. Without generators, the switches would be operated manually.
The agency set out some generators Monday, but "we have more generators today to help us cover our normal operations," Mr. Lyons said.
When power goes out along rail lines outside of downtown, crossing arms automatically block the rail line intersections. Power supply was not an issue in downtown Dallas where intersections do not have crossing arms. If downtown rail lines lose power, the agency sends police officers or other employees to coordinate train and vehicle traffic.
DART did not deploy police officers to outlying locations Monday because of the rolling blackouts’ short duration and the distance to reach some of the affected areas.
"By the time we would have gotten out there, it would have been resolved," Mr. Lyons said.
Although signals and crossing arms lose power during blackouts and storms, the electric-powered light-rail trains can continue to operate. The trains draw their electricity from the same electric generating substation as the crossing arms and signals, but they can also draw power from other substations to keep them moving and keep the air conditioning operating, Mr. Lyons said.
"If this happens again this afternoon, folks may experience some delays," Mr. Lyons said. "Our objective is to minimize the delays as much as possible."
The North Texas Tollway Authority used backup generators to keep traffic flowing - and the coin counters working -- at any affected toll plazas Monday.
In the future, Dallas and Richardson plan to install emergency power supplies at selected major intersections. The battery backup power would keep signals working for up to two hours during electricity outages, Mr. Wong said.
Dallas has one test intersection, located at Coit Road and McCallum Boulevard in Far North Dallas. The city has 1,200 intersections with traffic signals. But with costs reaching $5,000 per location, Dallas does not plan to install the battery backups at all sites.
Intersections would be selected based on traffic volume and whether there is enough land to install an equipment box beside the traffic lights. City leaders hope to get funds to pay for equipment at 50 to 100 intersections in a November bond election.
"We’re going to be very selective," Mr. Wong said.
Regional transportation officials also have recognized that it takes a lot of electricity to keep traffic signals operating and motorists moving.
A typical intersection with traffic lights requires about 250 killowatts per month to operate, Mr. Wong said. That figure is about 80 percent less than a few years ago, before most cities in the region began switching from traffic lights that use incandescent light bulbs to signal lights that feature light-emitting diodes, or LEDs.
And don’t even think about solar power for traffic lights, Mr. Wong said.
"The solar panel would have to get pretty large if it was needed to power a whole intersection," he said.
Staff Writers Eric Aasen, Herb Booth, Wendy Hundley, Kristine Hughes and Stephanie Sandoval contributed to this report.
By TONY HARTZEL and ROY APPLETON / The Dallas Morning News
Monday’s rolling 15-minute blackouts caught some cities, police departments and Dallas Area Rapid Transit off guard, leaving them with no warning of when or where neighborhoods and traffic signals would lose power.
At DART, one of the first indications of power supply problems came when staffers in the rail operations nerve center looked at their wall-sized control board and started noticing electricity disruptions up and down the lines.
"We didn’t receive any notice. We just started experiencing it," said DART spokesman Morgan Lyons.
TXU Electric Delivery began the blackouts as soon as it received a directive from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s electric grid operator, said TXU spokeswoman Carol Peters.
"We notified the police as soon as we knew," she said. "It was a fast-moving, dynamic situation. We had to act quickly to avoid a blackout."
Although ERCOT predicted no disruptions Tuesday, local agencies made tentative plans. The city of Richardson and DART deployed generators along major intersections on Central Expressway and beside light-rail line switches. In addition, at least two cities also have plans to install battery backup power supplies at selected major intersections within the next few years.
But getting through another round of power disruptions in Dallas could require good communication from motorists and police, said Alex Wong, a program manager for traffic field operations for the city of Dallas.
Dallas traffic officials first heard of the impending blackouts from media reports Monday. As one intersection after another lost power, the city relied on police officers on patrol and motorist calls to Dallas’ 311 incident reporting phone number to help them position workers and temporary stop signs where needed.
If traffic signals have no power, motorists should call 311 to report it. Motorists also should treat the intersections as a four-way stop before proceeding, Mr. Wong said.
Because the power disruptions lasted only 15 minutes in a given area, traffic flow on Monday "really wasn’t too bad," Mr. Wong said. "When there’s suddenly no power at an intersection, that can cause a little chaos. But as you start having backups, people pay more attention."
In Duncanville, officials also are ready to place stop signs at intersections that lose electricity, and police officers will be available to manage the city’s busiest intersections, said City Manager Kent Cagle. In Richardson, the city had problems Monday at 28 intersections, but was able to use generators to restore some signals for rush-hour traffic, said Assistant City Manager Mike Wanchick.
Carrollton and Farmers Branch city officials said the brownouts only affected a handful of traffic lights in those cities. Carrollton would typically send out generators to restore traffic light operations, but did not need to Monday because power was restored so quickly.
The power disruptions slowed but did not stop DART light-rail service Monday. The transit agency has established procedures, which include running slowly and relying on visual cues instead of train signals. In addition, the agency sets out portable generators to provide power to track switching equipment where rail lines converge. Without generators, the switches would be operated manually.
The agency set out some generators Monday, but "we have more generators today to help us cover our normal operations," Mr. Lyons said.
When power goes out along rail lines outside of downtown, crossing arms automatically block the rail line intersections. Power supply was not an issue in downtown Dallas where intersections do not have crossing arms. If downtown rail lines lose power, the agency sends police officers or other employees to coordinate train and vehicle traffic.
DART did not deploy police officers to outlying locations Monday because of the rolling blackouts’ short duration and the distance to reach some of the affected areas.
"By the time we would have gotten out there, it would have been resolved," Mr. Lyons said.
Although signals and crossing arms lose power during blackouts and storms, the electric-powered light-rail trains can continue to operate. The trains draw their electricity from the same electric generating substation as the crossing arms and signals, but they can also draw power from other substations to keep them moving and keep the air conditioning operating, Mr. Lyons said.
"If this happens again this afternoon, folks may experience some delays," Mr. Lyons said. "Our objective is to minimize the delays as much as possible."
The North Texas Tollway Authority used backup generators to keep traffic flowing - and the coin counters working -- at any affected toll plazas Monday.
In the future, Dallas and Richardson plan to install emergency power supplies at selected major intersections. The battery backup power would keep signals working for up to two hours during electricity outages, Mr. Wong said.
Dallas has one test intersection, located at Coit Road and McCallum Boulevard in Far North Dallas. The city has 1,200 intersections with traffic signals. But with costs reaching $5,000 per location, Dallas does not plan to install the battery backups at all sites.
Intersections would be selected based on traffic volume and whether there is enough land to install an equipment box beside the traffic lights. City leaders hope to get funds to pay for equipment at 50 to 100 intersections in a November bond election.
"We’re going to be very selective," Mr. Wong said.
Regional transportation officials also have recognized that it takes a lot of electricity to keep traffic signals operating and motorists moving.
A typical intersection with traffic lights requires about 250 killowatts per month to operate, Mr. Wong said. That figure is about 80 percent less than a few years ago, before most cities in the region began switching from traffic lights that use incandescent light bulbs to signal lights that feature light-emitting diodes, or LEDs.
And don’t even think about solar power for traffic lights, Mr. Wong said.
"The solar panel would have to get pretty large if it was needed to power a whole intersection," he said.
Staff Writers Eric Aasen, Herb Booth, Wendy Hundley, Kristine Hughes and Stephanie Sandoval contributed to this report.
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