Business & Tech
Life After San Onofre: Lights Out this Summer?
Energy officials hope conservation and grid improvements can get the region through the next few months. But other plants are closing and new ones will be needed down the road, they say.
Originally posted June 28.
Will Southern California be left in the dark with San Onofre permanently shut down?
The energy supply will be constrained across the region for several years until new improvements can be built, business leaders said at the South Orange County Economic Coalition meeting Friday morning in Aliso Viejo.
This summer should be fine, said Frank Wasko, public affairs manager for Southern California Edison.
"There's no flickering lights, there's no low-voltage concerns this summer," he said.
However, as demand increases in coming years, utility companies will be looking for land to build more power generating stations. Not doing so could lead to an electrical crisis, they said.
SCE announced it would permanently shutter the 2,300-megawatt San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station earlier this month. That puts the whole regional power grid under pressure, said Danny Zaragoza, director of electric distribution operations for San Diego Gas and Electric.
The big concern involves voltage, an electrical force Zaragoza likened to water pressure. Voltage stability keeps systems sturdy and keeps power flowing, Zaragosa said. At times of high energy demand—like when heat soars in the summer—voltage goes down.
"A voltage collapse could essentially take down your entire system," he said. "The voltage stability in an area is huge, huge for us. Having San Onofre out of that mix is a big, big concern."
And that concern becomes greater as companies plan to close seven more power plants from Ventura to San Diego by 2020, said Dennis Peters with California ISO.
New stations are being planned, along with other improvements that can boost the reliability and voltage of the regional grid, Peters said. But more stations need to be built to meet future needs, particularly in Orange County, he said.
Wasko said Edison hopes to build "some 250- to 500-megawatt plants in South O.C." to keep up with the energy demand.
Will Southern California be left in the dark with San Onofre permanently shut down?
The energy supply will be constrained across the region for several years until new improvements can be built, business leaders said at the South Orange County Economic Coalition meeting Friday morning in Aliso Viejo.
This summer should be fine, said Frank Wasko, public affairs manager for Southern California Edison.
"There's no flickering lights, there's no low-voltage concerns this summer," he said.
However, as demand increases in coming years, utility companies will be looking for land to build more power generating stations. Not doing so could lead to an electrical crisis, they said.
SCE announced it would permanently shutter the 2,300-megawatt San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station earlier this month. That puts the whole regional power grid under pressure, said Danny Zaragoza, director of electric distribution operations for San Diego Gas and Electric.
The big concern involves voltage, an electrical force Zaragoza likened to water pressure. Voltage stability keeps systems sturdy and keeps power flowing, Zaragosa said. At times of high energy demand—like when heat soars in the summer—voltage goes down.
"A voltage collapse could essentially take down your entire system," he said. "The voltage stability in an area is huge, huge for us. Having San Onofre out of that mix is a big, big concern."
And that concern becomes greater as companies plan to close seven more power plants from Ventura to San Diego by 2020, said Dennis Peters with California ISO.
New stations are being planned, along with other improvements that can boost the reliability and voltage of the regional grid, Peters said. But more stations need to be built to meet future needs, particularly in Orange County, he said.
Wasko said Edison hopes to build "some 250- to 500-megawatt plants in South O.C." to keep up with the energy demand.
"Regionally, we are looking already," he said. "Edison is looking for new locations for generation. It's completely, of course, confidential, but we're looking for land in all of the (South County) cities."
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