AZ power outage
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Skywatch_NC
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Re: AZ power outage
BEER980 wrote:Did anyone lose power from the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant incident?
When did that happen?
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GalvestonDuck
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This morning.
Arizona Public Service Co. took all three Palo Verde nuclear plant units offline following a "grid disturbance" on Monday morning, Reuters reported "We had a grid disturbance. We have yet to determine the cause. It led to some short-lived customer outages and ultimately led to some units being shut down," APS spokeswoman Sheri Foote said.
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Aslkahuna
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Neither Tucson nor Sierra Vista
are served by Palo Verde-Tucson has TEP which is the Tucson Electric Power which generates it's own power (even to the point of using Methane from the landfill and Solar) and gets the rest from another grid. Sierra Vista gets its power from Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative home based in Willcox.
Steve
Steve
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azsnowman
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Nope....still got the *juice* flowing here. Here's the whole story now:
http://www.azcentral.com
Palo Verde shutdown has utilities scrambling
Palo Verde Nuclear Plant
65,000 lost power after grid glitch
Max Jarman
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 15, 2004 12:00 AM
A power grid malfunction early Monday sparked blackouts in the West Valley, Wickenburg and Tucson and idled three major power plants, including the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station.
The plants shut down automatically when they lost outside power. The shutdowns prevented a chain reaction similar to the one that caused last summer's enormous widespread East Coast blackout.
"The system functioned as it was supposed to," said Jim McDonald, a spokesman for Arizona Public Service Co.
To stabilize the grid after the plant outages, officials at APS and Tucson Electric Power ordered power cut to a combined 65,000 customers at 7:45 a.m.
"Some lost power, and some just saw their lights dim," McDonald said.
Power had been restored to all of the affected customers by 10 a.m.
Related link
12 News video: Power problem forced school's evacuation
It could be a week before Palo Verde, which is west of Phoenix, is back in service. That could create supply shortfalls for plant owners APS and Salt River Project.
Both utilities said Monday that they believed there would be no shortages.
"We're in good shape in serving our customers today and probably for the rest of the week," McDonald said.
Although electricity demand typically increases throughout the week, temperatures are expected to fall and reduce the amount of energy used for air-conditioning.
The officials at the power companies acknowledged the remote possibility of more selective blackouts if they can't find other sources of electricity, or if a plant unexpectedly shuts down.
APS cut power to about 30,000 customers at 7:45 a.m. Monday when the Palo Verde shutdown created instability on the grid.
An additional 35,000 customers in the Tucson area saw their power cut by Tucson Electric Power Co.
"We lost 60 megawatts from Palo Verde and had to shed load to balance the system and keep our plants from going down," said Steve Lynn, a spokesman for TEP.
About 1,000 SRP customers also lost power during the outage.
Most of the affected APS customers were in the vicinity of Sun City and Sun City West, but lights flickered as far away as central Phoenix.
A Nuclear Regulatory Commission bulletin attributed the outage to a malfunctioning transformer, but McDonald said the cause is still under investigation.
He said it appeared to have started on a high-voltage line near 115th Avenue and Union Hills Drive in Surprise.
On Monday, McDonald said the three generators at Palo Verde and two at the nearby Red Hawk Power Plant shut down when outside power to the facilities was interrupted. Duke Energy Corp.'s nearby Arlington Valley Power Plant also shut down.
Both Arlington and Red Hawk, which is owned by Pinnacle West Energy, a subsidiary of APS parent Pinnacle West Capital Corp., were up and running by midmorning.
But restarting nuclear-powered Palo Verde takes more time.
It could be the end of the week before all three of Palo Verde's 1,300-megawatt generators are operating at full capacity.
Meanwhile, Palo Verde owners APS and SRP have to find other sources of electricity to replace the lost supply.
Spokesman Scott Harelson said SRP pressed seldom-used older generators into service and was buying electricity on the open market to cover its shortfall.
The price of electricity at the Palo Verde Switchyard on the Western Power Grid jumped $7.70, or 16 percent, Monday to $55.46 per megawatt hour.
Those costs could be passed onto customers.
APS also had to buy on the spot market, but it must seek regulatory approval for a rate increase.
SRP put its customers on interruptible contracts on notice but got through the day without reducing their power.
Those customers pay lower rates with the understanding their power could be cut in times of short supply.
Although none of its wholly owned plants were affected, SRP owns 17.5 percent of Palo Verde, which entitles it to about 683 megawatts.
One megawatt can supply power to 250 to 1,000 homes, depending on use.
APS owns 29.1 percent of Palo Verde and is entitled to about 1,130 megawatts.
Other Palo Verde owners are El Paso Electric Co., 15.8 percent; Southern California Edison, 15.8 percent; Public Service Co. of New Mexico, 10.2 percent; Southern California Public Power Authority, 5.9 percent; and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, 5.7 percent.
McDonald said APS will look to acquire power on the market and fire up units that are not operating.
Last summer, workers failed to reopen a ground switch after making repairs to a high-voltage line and knocked out power to several Valley power plants, cutting electricity to 90,000 customers.
Dennis
http://www.azcentral.com
Palo Verde shutdown has utilities scrambling
Palo Verde Nuclear Plant
65,000 lost power after grid glitch
Max Jarman
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 15, 2004 12:00 AM
A power grid malfunction early Monday sparked blackouts in the West Valley, Wickenburg and Tucson and idled three major power plants, including the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station.
The plants shut down automatically when they lost outside power. The shutdowns prevented a chain reaction similar to the one that caused last summer's enormous widespread East Coast blackout.
"The system functioned as it was supposed to," said Jim McDonald, a spokesman for Arizona Public Service Co.
To stabilize the grid after the plant outages, officials at APS and Tucson Electric Power ordered power cut to a combined 65,000 customers at 7:45 a.m.
"Some lost power, and some just saw their lights dim," McDonald said.
Power had been restored to all of the affected customers by 10 a.m.
Related link
12 News video: Power problem forced school's evacuation
It could be a week before Palo Verde, which is west of Phoenix, is back in service. That could create supply shortfalls for plant owners APS and Salt River Project.
Both utilities said Monday that they believed there would be no shortages.
"We're in good shape in serving our customers today and probably for the rest of the week," McDonald said.
Although electricity demand typically increases throughout the week, temperatures are expected to fall and reduce the amount of energy used for air-conditioning.
The officials at the power companies acknowledged the remote possibility of more selective blackouts if they can't find other sources of electricity, or if a plant unexpectedly shuts down.
APS cut power to about 30,000 customers at 7:45 a.m. Monday when the Palo Verde shutdown created instability on the grid.
An additional 35,000 customers in the Tucson area saw their power cut by Tucson Electric Power Co.
"We lost 60 megawatts from Palo Verde and had to shed load to balance the system and keep our plants from going down," said Steve Lynn, a spokesman for TEP.
About 1,000 SRP customers also lost power during the outage.
Most of the affected APS customers were in the vicinity of Sun City and Sun City West, but lights flickered as far away as central Phoenix.
A Nuclear Regulatory Commission bulletin attributed the outage to a malfunctioning transformer, but McDonald said the cause is still under investigation.
He said it appeared to have started on a high-voltage line near 115th Avenue and Union Hills Drive in Surprise.
On Monday, McDonald said the three generators at Palo Verde and two at the nearby Red Hawk Power Plant shut down when outside power to the facilities was interrupted. Duke Energy Corp.'s nearby Arlington Valley Power Plant also shut down.
Both Arlington and Red Hawk, which is owned by Pinnacle West Energy, a subsidiary of APS parent Pinnacle West Capital Corp., were up and running by midmorning.
But restarting nuclear-powered Palo Verde takes more time.
It could be the end of the week before all three of Palo Verde's 1,300-megawatt generators are operating at full capacity.
Meanwhile, Palo Verde owners APS and SRP have to find other sources of electricity to replace the lost supply.
Spokesman Scott Harelson said SRP pressed seldom-used older generators into service and was buying electricity on the open market to cover its shortfall.
The price of electricity at the Palo Verde Switchyard on the Western Power Grid jumped $7.70, or 16 percent, Monday to $55.46 per megawatt hour.
Those costs could be passed onto customers.
APS also had to buy on the spot market, but it must seek regulatory approval for a rate increase.
SRP put its customers on interruptible contracts on notice but got through the day without reducing their power.
Those customers pay lower rates with the understanding their power could be cut in times of short supply.
Although none of its wholly owned plants were affected, SRP owns 17.5 percent of Palo Verde, which entitles it to about 683 megawatts.
One megawatt can supply power to 250 to 1,000 homes, depending on use.
APS owns 29.1 percent of Palo Verde and is entitled to about 1,130 megawatts.
Other Palo Verde owners are El Paso Electric Co., 15.8 percent; Southern California Edison, 15.8 percent; Public Service Co. of New Mexico, 10.2 percent; Southern California Public Power Authority, 5.9 percent; and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, 5.7 percent.
McDonald said APS will look to acquire power on the market and fire up units that are not operating.
Last summer, workers failed to reopen a ground switch after making repairs to a high-voltage line and knocked out power to several Valley power plants, cutting electricity to 90,000 customers.
Dennis
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azsnowman
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This is NOT COOL!
http://www.azcentral.com
Nuke team looks into Palo Verde shutdown
Backup's failure has feds worried
Max Jarman
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 16, 2004 12:00 AM
Related link
12 News video: Answers in Monday's power outage
Federal regulators are sending a team to Arizona to investigate the emergency shutdown of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, saying Monday's incident involved the failure of an important backup system.
A second backup system kicked in, and others were available. But the incident at Unit 2 prompted Arizona Public Service Co., the operator, to declare an "alert" for a few hours, the second-lowest of four levels of emergency classification.
It was the third such declaration at Palo Verde in 11 years and the fifth unexpected shutdown there this year.
The shutdown of the nation's largest nuclear power plant Monday morning threatened the stability of the power grid and cut electricity to about 65,000 customers in Pima and Maricopa counties.
"Because of some complications, we want to take a detailed look at what occurred," said Thomas P. Gwynn, deputy regional administrator for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Region IV, based in Arlington, Texas.
Palo Verde, which can light 3 million homes, remained shut for the second day and could be down for the rest of the week. The shutdown prompted utilities that rely on its electricity to restart seldom-used generators and buy electricity on the open market.
The price of wholesale electricity at the Palo Verde Switchyard surged $11.13, or 20 percent, on Tuesday to $66.59 per megawatt hour. The price had risen 16 percent on Monday.
Salt River Project, which relies on Palo Verde for some power during the summer, can pass along the higher costs to its customers but has not said it will do so. APS would have to apply to the state for higher rates, using the costs as a justification.
APS and SRP, which own a combined 47 percent of Palo Verde, believe they have enough power to get through the week but say the loss of another plant or major transmission line could cause shortages. California utilities that own 26 percent of the power from Palo Verde also are affected.
APS said Monday's outage was caused by a sequence of events that included a faulty insulator on a high-voltage transmission tower in the northeast Valley and the failure of several safety systems designed to isolate such problems.
"It should have been stopped at a number of points on the system," APS spokesman Jim McDonald said.
The cause of the system failures is under investigation.
But what concerns the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was the failure of one of two backup electrical systems inside one of the plant's three reactors. The emergency power is needed to safely shut down and cool the reactors.
The second system safely shut down the reactor. Had it failed, too, officials would have had to rely on other systems that provide backup power to the entire plant.
Victor Dricks, a spokesman for the NRC's Region IV, was unable to say how long the inspectors would be in Arizona but added that their presence would not delay restarting the plant.
McDonald said crews were evaluating the plant's three generators to determine when they can be restarted. The three generators need to be started one at a time and then slowly brought up to full power over a period of days.
The last time APS declared an "alert" was in 1996, when a fuel rod assembly became jammed in the reactor core. In 1993, an alert was declared when a steam generator tube ruptured.
The most serious emergency designation is a "general emergency," and the second is a "site emergency."
This was the fifth unexpected shutdown at Palo Verde this year. Three of those involved internal radiation leaks at Units 1, 2 and 3 in February. Unit 3 was shut again June 9 when a control system failed.
http://www.azcentral.com
Nuke team looks into Palo Verde shutdown
Backup's failure has feds worried
Max Jarman
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 16, 2004 12:00 AM
Related link
12 News video: Answers in Monday's power outage
Federal regulators are sending a team to Arizona to investigate the emergency shutdown of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, saying Monday's incident involved the failure of an important backup system.
A second backup system kicked in, and others were available. But the incident at Unit 2 prompted Arizona Public Service Co., the operator, to declare an "alert" for a few hours, the second-lowest of four levels of emergency classification.
It was the third such declaration at Palo Verde in 11 years and the fifth unexpected shutdown there this year.
The shutdown of the nation's largest nuclear power plant Monday morning threatened the stability of the power grid and cut electricity to about 65,000 customers in Pima and Maricopa counties.
"Because of some complications, we want to take a detailed look at what occurred," said Thomas P. Gwynn, deputy regional administrator for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Region IV, based in Arlington, Texas.
Palo Verde, which can light 3 million homes, remained shut for the second day and could be down for the rest of the week. The shutdown prompted utilities that rely on its electricity to restart seldom-used generators and buy electricity on the open market.
The price of wholesale electricity at the Palo Verde Switchyard surged $11.13, or 20 percent, on Tuesday to $66.59 per megawatt hour. The price had risen 16 percent on Monday.
Salt River Project, which relies on Palo Verde for some power during the summer, can pass along the higher costs to its customers but has not said it will do so. APS would have to apply to the state for higher rates, using the costs as a justification.
APS and SRP, which own a combined 47 percent of Palo Verde, believe they have enough power to get through the week but say the loss of another plant or major transmission line could cause shortages. California utilities that own 26 percent of the power from Palo Verde also are affected.
APS said Monday's outage was caused by a sequence of events that included a faulty insulator on a high-voltage transmission tower in the northeast Valley and the failure of several safety systems designed to isolate such problems.
"It should have been stopped at a number of points on the system," APS spokesman Jim McDonald said.
The cause of the system failures is under investigation.
But what concerns the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was the failure of one of two backup electrical systems inside one of the plant's three reactors. The emergency power is needed to safely shut down and cool the reactors.
The second system safely shut down the reactor. Had it failed, too, officials would have had to rely on other systems that provide backup power to the entire plant.
Victor Dricks, a spokesman for the NRC's Region IV, was unable to say how long the inspectors would be in Arizona but added that their presence would not delay restarting the plant.
McDonald said crews were evaluating the plant's three generators to determine when they can be restarted. The three generators need to be started one at a time and then slowly brought up to full power over a period of days.
The last time APS declared an "alert" was in 1996, when a fuel rod assembly became jammed in the reactor core. In 1993, an alert was declared when a steam generator tube ruptured.
The most serious emergency designation is a "general emergency," and the second is a "site emergency."
This was the fifth unexpected shutdown at Palo Verde this year. Three of those involved internal radiation leaks at Units 1, 2 and 3 in February. Unit 3 was shut again June 9 when a control system failed.
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TexasStooge
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