Pacific

The California Independent System Operator (California ISO)ordered Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to initiate itslocalized non-firm interruptible program 12- 6 p.m. yesterdaybecause of continued heat Northern California, particularly in theinland areas. In addition, the amount of generation unavailable inthe Bay Area due to repairs increased from 488 MW Wednesday to 800MW Thursday. PG&E said it curtailed 300 MW of interruptiblecustomers beginning at 12:15 p.m. during localized load shedding tohelp stabilize the flow of power on the ISO-controlled transmissionsystems. The California ISO was not under a Stage One Emergencyyesterday, however it issued a Power Watch, urging customersthroughout the state to conserve electricity whenever possible.

Pacific Gas & Electric had a systemwide high-inventory OFOin effect Monday but did not extend it through today. The Stage 2order carried penalties of $1/Dth for positive daily imbalancesexceeding a tolerance of 1%.

For the second time in just over a week Union Pacific ResourcesGroup is selling off non-core assets in North America. MadisonEnergy Advisors will be handling the evaluation, marketing, andsale of almost all of UPR.’s South Louisiana producing assets. Theproperties for sale include 52 wells with 100% working interests inmost of them. The net production from these properties duringDecember 1999 was approximately 16.1 MMCFD, 490 b/d, and 54 liquidsb/d.

Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas extendedhigh-linepack OFOs that had begun Saturday (see Daily GPI, June 5)through Sunday, but neither order was in effect Monday.

Both of California’s two major distributors, Southern CaliforniaGas and Pacific Gas & Electric, had high-pack OFOs in placeSaturday. The one by SoCal Gas applied to all shippers whilePG&E’s was customer-specific.

After issuing several customer-specific high-linepack OFOs overthe last couple of months, Pacific Gas & Electric reverted to asystemwide Stage 2 OFO for Saturday’s gas day. The order carriedpenalties of $1/Dth for positive daily imbalances exceeding arelatively stringent 2% tolerance.

California regulators approved a settlement last week dealingwith Pacific Gas and Electric’s imbalance procedures andoperational flow orders (OFO). The California Public UtilitiesCommission (CPUC) however, did not act on the much tougher issuesincluded in the proposed interim and comprehensive settlementsfiled earlier this year by Southern California Gas.

California regulators yesterday approved a settlement dealingwith Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s imbalance procedures andoperational flow orders (OFO). Regulators, however, did not act onthe much tougher issues included in the proposed interim andcomprehensive settlements filed earlier this year by SouthernCalifornia Gas (SoCalGas).

Pacific Gas and Electric said the unusual event declared Mondayat its Diablo Canyon Power Plant Unit 1 was terminated at 9:57 a.m.Tuesday morning. It noted that “An Unusual Event” is the lowestlevel of emergency classification as defined by the NRC and doesnot require any emergency action by the general public or anygovernment agency. Throughout the event all reactor safety systemsfunctioned properly and radiation monitors did not detect anyradioactivity above normal background, the utility said. The eventwas terminated after off-site power was restored to the unit anddiesel generators used to power cooling equipment during the eventwere shut off and placed in standby. Offsite power was lostfollowing an electrical short and fire at 12:25 a.m. Monday. Thediesel generators are used to power reactor cooling equipment inthe event of a reactor trip when offsite power is not available.Efforts at the plant are now focused on determining the cause ofthe electrical short and fire and to make repairs.