http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010111/aponline122422_000.htm
Apparently, thanks to a mere thunderstorm, rolling power blackouts are
expected across California this afternoon. I think one thing unmentioned
is the fact that demand is hardly inelastic. It has, in fact, shot up by
13% in a single year thanks to a) internet use, and b) the added load of
state mandated electric cars: i.e two things not unforseeable by power
planners five years ago. I know I was warning about it on the Bonneville
Power sponsored conservation email lists from 92-95.
hal@finney.org wrote:
>
> I found a good resource for economic analysis of the California
> electrical power crisis. It is the UC Energy Institute at Berkeley,
> http://www.ucei.berkeley.edu/ucei/. Their working paper #074, from
> February, 2000, presciently describes the difficulties facing electrical
> markets in periods of shortages:
>
> The combination of very inelastic short-run demand and supply (at peak
> times) with the real-time nature of the market (costly storage and
> grid reliability requirements) make electricity markets especially
> vulnerable to the exercise of market power.
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