Updates
June 7, 2013: San Onofre will close. It will be interesting to see how California will cope.
Original Post
Reuters is reporting:
California's electric grid agency warned on Wednesday that a second summer without output from the damaged San Onofre nuclear plant presents more challenges than last year and will force the agency to rely on voluntary conservation to avert rolling blackouts.
"This summer will be more difficult than last," Steven Berberich, president of the California Independent System Operator (ISO)...
The 2,150-megawatt San Onofre nuclear station, owned by Edison International and Sempra Energy, has been shut since January 2012 after the discovery of premature tube wear that damaged thousands of tightly packed tubes inside the large steam generators.
San Onofre, located halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego, is the largest power plant in southern California and its extended shutdown creates reliability problems in south Orange County and the San Diego area...
Grid officials are closely watching California's supply of hydro power for the summer which is expected to be about two-thirds of normal.Regardless, it looks like Warren will do just fine...as you read through the linked article, remember:
PacifiCorp, a unit of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co, operates utilities in California, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Wyoming and Idaho, and will invest about $2.1 million to set up its systems.
MidAmerican is a unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.The article mentioned "hydro power" but did not mention solar or wind energy. Cue up Connie Francis.
Sempra Energy, by the way, hit a 52-week high yesterday, and has been hitting highs regularly in the last few weeks, but it has to do with its natural gas play and Mexico, not the California energy debacle.