Possible Record Power Demand Day in New England on Monday

[peakbagger]

Looks like the weather is lining up for record power usage Monday 6/18 afternoon in New England. It will be interesting to see how much oil generation goes on line (which means the region has run out natural gas capacity). Right now (sunday AM) its zero.

The ISO New England real time maps and charts is the place to take a look at https://www.iso-ne.com/markets-operations/iso-express/

Prices will most likely go up and could skyrocket if a major transmission line or power plant goes out of service. Days like these in the SW were the one that the Enron traders would make a killing by strategically dropping assets off line and then bidding back power in at much higher rates.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Ah, Enron.. was working at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter with the wife (in Houston) when that went south. I remember all the people calling in to buy shares.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I remember 9/11 too. We were the largest tenent in both of the big buildings. My world changed forever that day.

 

[begreen]

I remember 9/11 too. We were the largest tenent in both of the big buildings. My world changed forever that day.

I think all of our lives changed that day in some way.

 

[sloeffle]

I've been watching the ISO NE Graphs and Charts off and on all day. @peakbagger it is definitely interesting to watch the natural gas utilization go up as the amount of electricity that needs generates goes up. It look like the nuclear line never moves too.

 

[peakbagger]

I think the region dodged a bullet today. I see a bit of oil fired sneaked in but without winter heating load natural gas covered the market.

Nuclear power plants are baseloaded, they try to run flat out 24/7 thus the load is flat.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

It hit 96 here today per the radio. I saw 93.

 

[Brian26]

The New Haven oil peaker power plant is fired up as of this morning. Will be interesting to see the ISO New England chart today and tomorrow.

https://www.iso-ne.com/isoexpress/web/charts

Some serious heat moving in.

 

[begreen]

Ugh, I would be living in or by the water during that weather.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

The heat won't be letting up all week. It's going to be a bear.

 

[Brian26]

Glad its sunny. My solar panels have been powering the central air most of the day so far. Im sure its helping the strain on the grid as I have yet to use much of any grid power today.

 

[Doug MacIVER]

One would guess the next three days will amount to the extreme test. Every fan, swamp cooler ( no DC pun), AC unit will be running from here to over there! The total drain on the electric system liable to historic. just hope those that are fan coolers have a sanctuary.

 

[peakbagger]

Just keep an eye on the oil fired generation, as long as the nukes stay running the oil doesn't usually kick in, lose a nuke and all bets are off.

 

[Brian26]

I was watching the NY ISO charts. Its crazy how expensive the power to NYC and especially Long Island can get during high demand.

This chart showed Long Island costing almost $700 a megawatt at peak demand today.

http://www.nyiso.com/public/markets_operations/market_data/maps/index.jsp

 

[Brian26]

Interesting article from ISO New England from this heatwave. The solar part is really cool.

Solar surged

Solar generation peaked each day at around 2 p.m. during the heat wave, providing approximately 2,000 MW to homes and businesses with solar arrays. The vast majority of New England’s photovoltaic (PV) arrays are located at customers’ sites, “behind the meter” on the distribution system. ISO New England can’t “see” what’s happening on the distribution system—which arrays are generating, which are not, and how much—but the impact of all those behind-the-meter PV systems is seen in demand levels. Because those homes and businesses were getting their electricity demand met by their own PV systems, their demand for power from the regional power system was lower by about 2,000 MW at the solar peak. Before so many PV arrays were installed in New England, summer peak demand typically occurred around 2 or 3 p.m. As more and more PV is meeting mid-afternoon demand for power, the peak in regional demand for power is occurring later in the day, as the sun goes down.

“Solar contributes to the reduction in the peak load and also contributes to moving the peak that we see here at ISO New England to that 5 to 6 p.m. timeframe,” said John Norden, ISO New England’s Director of System Operations. “Peak load usage, or the total power used in the region, is still occurring in the afternoon, but some of it is behind-the-meter, so we don’t see it.”

http://isonewswire.com/updates/2018...able-operations-through-holiday-heat-hum.html

 

[peakbagger]

Looks like another record day tomorrow (8/29).