Posted at 7:07 a.m. PST Friday, Nov. 17, 2000

Holiday lights could overburden California electricity grid

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The twinkling holiday lights that will soon appear in trees and on rooftops are meant to spread seasonal cheer -- but operators of California's strained electricity grid view them with a certain amount of fear.

The merry glow adds an estimated 1,000 megawatts of consumption -- equal to the production of a nuclear power plant -- and that's cause for alarm for the California Independent System Operator, which provides power to about 75 percent of the state's residents.

``We don't want to be a Grinch, and we know that Christmas lights are near and dear to Californians' hearts, but it does make a big difference,'' said Stephanie McCorkle, spokeswoman for the Folsom-based nonprofit.

For now, officials are stopping short of asking residents to cut back on holiday lights. But they say they will be monitoring consumption, and if conservation is required Californians may be asked to take measures such as switching on their lights later in the evening.

The challenges the ISO can face have been underscored this week. The cold weather around the West, combined with power-plant outages totaling 12,000 megawatts, pushed the state within 5 percent of running out of electricity Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, forcing the ISO to declare Stage Two emergencies each day.

During Stage Two emergencies the ISO can call on customers that have voluntarily agreed to go off line when a power crunch hits. The next step is a Stage Three, which results in rotating blackouts.

On Thursday evening the agency declared a Stage One emergency, meaning electricity operating reserves had fallen below 7 percent and customers were urged to conserve power.

Jim Detmers, managing director of operations for the ISO, said several thousand megawatts of power generation will remain unavailable during the winter as operators make planned repairs to get ready for another grueling summer of electricity shortages.

In the event of difficulty, holiday lights could be a target, he said.

``We're running the numbers now,'' Detmers said. ``Should any emergencies occur, such as units breaking down, we have to be prepared.''

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), November 17, 2000