Plants Restarted During California Power Crunch

Two days after California declared its first Stage Three Emergency, state regulators okayed the restart of several California power plants. The 2,400 megawatt power plants had been shut down because they had exceeded their air pollution limits. However, state regulators allowed them to be restarted in hopes they would help ease the power crunch the state has been experiencing for the past few weeks. Despite being back online, the power plants will have to pay daily fines for exceeding air pollution limits.

The power shortage stems from several power plants being shut down for repairs at a time when cold weather has hit much of the Northwest, decreasing the amount of power available for California to purchase. The state is also dealing with deregulation issues. The Stage Three Emergency occurred on Dec. 7, when capacity reserves fell below 1.5 percent of available resources.

Federal regulators are looking into diverting power from other states to California. The state was on the verge of rolling blackouts last week, but avoided that by shutting down large pumps that push water from northern California to central and southern areas.