Buck Wargo
CITY HALL -- Two years ago, a damaged transformer put Glendale Water &
Power officials on alert of the potential for power outages.
The transformer, one of two in the city, receives power through Los
Angeles from plants the city owns in New Mexico, Arizona and Utah and
from Hoover Dam and Pacific Northwest hydroelectric plants.
When it was knocked out of action, Glendale had to use Burbank as a
backup for supplying power, and the city cranked up all eight generators
at its Grayson Power Plant, where normally one or two would operate.
There were no outages.
The transformer has been repaired and Grayson, which opened 60 years
ago, continues to protect the community from outages, said Bill Hall, the
city's electric services administrator. A third transformer that cost
$800,000 will come online July 7.
"It's like having a second spare tire in your car," Hall said of the
transformer. "It's like driving across the desert with no service station
around. You feel comfortable with that second spare there."
Glendale's calm comes as the U.S. Energy Department is warning of the
strong likelihood of power outages in the West and Northeast this summer.
Heat across the West has resulted in warnings in California this week to
reduce power or there could be rolling blackouts.
No such warnings have been given in Glendale, where officials give
their routine notice of the importance of energy conservation, Hall said.
"We don't anticipate any problems," Hall said. "All these warnings
apply to investor utilities and not to cities like L.A. and Glendale."
Through its ownership in out-of-state nuclear and coal power plants
and long-term contracts for other sources of power, Glendale's supply is
stable, Hall said. Utilities that don't generate their own power are
susceptible to the high demand and costs during summer, he said.
Glendale's outages have been attributed to wind, equipment failure and
squirrels, rather than hot temperatures, Hall said.
During the summer, the city gets about 30% of its power from Grayson.
This week, Glendale is using about 260 megawatts of power at its peak
demand period of 6 p.m. The all-time record is 315 megawatts in August
1998.
