Power assured/ Utilities officials say outages not a problem

Despite two breakdowns at Springs Utilities power plants this week, operators say the plants are well-positioned to keep the electricity - and air conditioners - running this summer.

Electric department director Lynn Wilkinson on Thursday downplayed the two events and said neither was directly related to high electricity demand from customers trying to keep cool amid unseasonably warm June weather.

"Who can predict what the summer is going to bring?" said George Dushan, a Utilities spokesman. "But if things operate normally and we don't have these unusual incidents, we should be in pretty good shape."

Still, Utilities officials acknowledged that a combination of events - problems at the Nixon and Drake power plants, as well as concurrent breakdowns at five Western U.S. plants that trade electricity with the Springs - was unusual.

Those events are a reminder that officials need to be prepared for power shortages.

Springs Utilities suffered major problems at its Nixon Power Plant on Tuesday, when it was off-line for 19 hours. Wilkinson blamed the problem on a broken circuit board.

"There was some concern about whether or not we would correct the problem, but we were able to correct it," he said.

Between the problems at Nixon and at other plants in the region, concern grew that Utilities would fall short of being able to buy or generate sufficient power. Officials discussed rolling blackouts but said they never came close to having to implement them.

On Wednesday afternoon, an instrument malfunction shut down pollution-control equipment at the Drake plant downtown. But contrary to statements from Utilities on Wednesday, Wilkinson said the problem never posed the threat of a power outage.

Officials called the timing of the events coincidental.

Furthermore, they said the breakdowns did not signal aging equipment or portend future problems. In fact, Wilkinson said, Nixon underwent a "major rebuild" of instrumentation and controls last year.

The biggest threat, Wilkinson said, isn't from Utilities' own plants, but from the regional plants and transmission lines they still sometimes rely on for extra power.

"We actually feel we're in pretty good shape," Wilkinson said. "What's important is the system that we're connected to be in good shape."

He ticked off a list of preparations Utilities has made for growing electricity demand, including the installation last year of two 30-megawatt natural gas generators and a contract to buy 50 megawatts of capacity from plants in southwestern Colorado.

He also noted Utilities' longer-term plans to add 480 megawatts of generating capacity to the Nixon plant - a move that would eventually wean Utilities from its occasional dependence on power generated by far-away facilities.

Wilkinson said Utilities has enough resources, between generating and purchasing power, to provide 730 to 740 megawatts - even though the summer peak probably won't rise above 680.

The highest summer demand so far came just over a week ago, on May 30. On that 93-degree day, Utilities required 671 megawatts to meet customer demand.

- Edited by Bill Vogrin; Headline by Barry Noreen

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