Energy: Plan Calls for SDG & E; to Buy Electricity To Add to Power Grid
California’s energy crisis may have two potential solutions as the state heads into summer. One is energy conservation, while the other is a new program that calls upon customers to get their power from , and make available to the utility , on-site generation.
The plan, announced May 10 by a coalition of community and business leaders, including San Diego Gas & Electric Co., calls upon customers to use backup generators to minimize, and possibly eliminate, summer blackouts, said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon.
The program will require customers to commit to turn on their backup electricity generators at SDG & E;’s request to supplement California’s power grid during Stage 3 emergencies. During such an emergency, these backup generators could provide about 75-100 megawatts of power, enough energy for approximately 75,000 to 100,000 homes, said Nathan Colestock, spokesman for Hunter.
If approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, the program could alleviate the expected economic loss of $1.6 billion. The overall cost of the program is projected to be $15 million, Colestock said.
Jim Avery, senior vice president for fuels and power operations at SDG & E;, explained how the plan worked.
“A number of our customers rely on their own generators; they start those up. What we have done is proposed a plan where we could muster all of those together for the benefit of all of San Diego. We have a lot of interest from a number of customers who want to participate to help San Diego,” he said.
Customers with backup generators would be compensated for their electricity at a rate set by the California Public Utilities Commission, which is reviewing the application.
Avery hopes for quick action on the proposal. Had the program been in effect last week, for example, the rolling blackouts San Diego experienced would never have happened, he added.
Kurt Kammerer, executive director of the San Diego Regional Energy Office, agreed. In light of the uncertainties surrounding the current energy situation, this plan is one of the few guarantees, he said.
“On-site generation is certainly worth consideration. If you have on-site generation, this new program is really going to help out. The utility is going to pay for that back-up generation to come on, anywhere between 7 and 35 cents a kilowatt-hour,” he said.
The only other guarantee is efficiency measures to conserve electricity. This would provide immediate and long-term benefits, Kammerer said.
Kammerer pointed out that there are several programs sponsored by the SDREO which combined could provide about 20 to 40 percent reductions in total energy use. Information about these is available on their Web site at (www.sdenergy.org).
Sherri Petro, business analyst with SDG & E;, added that conservation was necessary to stave off rolling blackouts. In California, the forecasted peak load for this summer is expected to be 47,703 megawatts. But counting all of California’s resources , both in and out of the state , the state could be short by as much as 3,600 megawatts, she said.
To help ease the crisis, SDG & E; has several programs to encourage business and residential customers to conserve , helping to prevent rolling blackouts. In rare cases, businesses signing up for these programs may actually be exempt from future rolling blackouts, Petro said.
Petro added that the state has made a total of $50 million available for SDG & E; customers as an incentive to encourage conservation. Information on signing up is available at (858) 654-1105.
Jim Counts, author of CalifStageAlerts, an e-mail newsletter updating subscribers on the state’s energy crisis, noted that conservation seems to have had some effects already. After a few days of Stage 2 and Stage 3 alerts, the state had a sudden reprieve, he said.
The situation can change rapidly. However, as of press time, the demand had actually fallen below what the California Independent Systems Operator projected it would need, Counts said.
“I like to think you and the others are right now keeping us from rolling blackouts. It can be done if we get enough of us conserving,” Counts said.
