Without Vermont Yankee, ISO NE Predicts Possible Transmission Line Melting

[wtmusic]

"Two months ago, I noted that ISO-NE refused to let Vermont Yankee drop out of the 2013 power auction. Since it is not clear that Vermont Yankee will be operating in 2013, I found this announcement strange. The grid operator (ISO-NE) won't let Vermont Yankee drop out of an auction? Huh? The news appeared and disappeared in local newspapers with the speed of a greased pig escaping its captors. Now you have it, now you don't. Where did it go? Yesterday, ISO-NE explained the situation more clearly. "Melting transmission lines" is more understandable than the statement: "Vermont Yankee must stay in the forward power auction."

As the Brattleboro Reformer reports:
'The computer simulated assessment from the Independent System Operator (ISO) New England reports Vermont and New York could face overloads -- defined as more electricity flowing through the system's equipment than it can handle, which could lead to the lines heating up, sagging, possibly melting and eventually shutting down -- in the system if the nuclear facility goes out of service once its license expires in roughly 17 months.....'"

http://theenergycollective.com/meredith-angwin/46781/without-vermont-yankee-iso-ne-predicts-possible-transmission-line-melting?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=The+Energy+Collective+%28all+posts%29

Here's how Vermont would deal with the situation, from a Q&A with David Lamont at Vermont Department of Public Service:

"Q. ISO would pull in temporary resources? What do you mean?

A. You know, things like gas turbines and diesels and other generating systems that can be moved in quickly. They would probably send out an RFP (request for proposals) for emergency generation. That's what they did in Connecticut."

http://yesvy.blogspot.com/2010/09/vermont-yankee-reliability-and.html

Why isn't wind taking up the slack? :shrug:

[PavePusher]

1. "Why isn't wind taking up the slack?"

Feel free to go about doing so, it's not anyone elses direct responsibility. You want it, you run it.

1. Get the permits for the turbine installations and power line right-of-ways. Vermont being the hilly, mountainous place that it is, the best sites will be on picturesque ridgelines and in narrow valleys/gorges/passes with reliable winds. Good luck with getting permits for that. (For the record, I'd authorize it in a heart-beat. I think the darn things are quite beautiful, but I happen to have a distinct fetish for well-engineered machinery.)

2. Finance the turbines. They ain't cheap, installing them in the required places ain't cheap, and maintaining them in those locations and in Vermont weather (think: winter, freezing condensation, ice on blades, storms, etc) ain't-a-gonna be cheap either.

I'm sure there are plenty of other obsticles, those are just the ones that leap to mind after a childhood in upper New England in the 70's and 80's. Are you ready to take up the slack?

[wtmusic]

2. It was a rhetorical question.

I know very well why wind isn't taking up the slack.

[PavePusher]

3. Heh, sorry. Feeling a bit literal today. Mea Culpa. n/t

[wtmusic]

4. No prob. nt

[joshcryer]

5. Topic title not controversial enough.

Rhetorical question will go unresponded to. :hi:

[kristopher]

6. Entergy is going to lose their shirt so big brother is trying to help...

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- Entergy Corp. made it official Thursday: It's putting the troubled Vermont Yankee nuclear plant on the market.

But Vermont's governor-elect said a new owner wouldn't change his view that the plant should shut down when its current license expires in 2012.

Entergy said in a statement that it is exploring the sale of the 605-megawatt nuclear plant in Vernon.

"While no decision has been made to sell the plant, the company expects interest from multiple parties," the company said.

The 38-year-old reactor's value...

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Vt-nuke-plant-for-sale-apf-1843859199.html?x=0&.v=1

[NNadir]

8. Vermont has produced almost no climate change gases for electricity for almost 4 decades.

It's wholly unsurprising that the gas industry spokespeople with their stupid and unworkable wind and solar fig leafs resent this fact, which is why they act like arsonists claiming to be fire people.

The plant will be replaced by dangerous fossil fuels, which is why anti-nukes scream so loudly to destroy the climate change gas free infrastructure.

It was the same in Germany, the same in Italy and the same in Denmark.

Unfortunately for our Gerhard Schroeder fans, the world is seeing through their little dangerous fossil fuel funded scheme.

Italy - the only nation in Europe to have actually closed all of its nuclear plants - just appointed a new nuclear regulatory commission to oversee its new nuclear plants.

Have a nice carbon dioxide pushing day, coal boy.

[TheWraith]

7. They need to replace that thing with an AP-1000 or equivalent.

Something modern as opposed to the dinosaur they've got running right now.

[Nihil]

9. Whoops.

Still, we have a solution or three to fix this inconvenient problem:

1) Cue a rapid build-out of wind turbines and CSP farms in order to save
(that part of) the planet.

Alternatively, ...

2) Cue a rapid conservation effort to cut down the gross wastage of
electricity in the region so that the need to import power is reduced
to safe levels.

Alternatively, ...

3) Burn more fossil fuels to make up the shortfall.


Now E/Eers, which of the above do YOU think is the most likely to happen?

:shrug:

[hunter]

10. Score for expensive "clean burning" Natural Gas and fracking!

Vermont will get a modern combined cycle gas plant, expensive electricity, and environmental disasters for everyone.

[Fledermaus]

11. ISO-NE does not have authority to require Vermont Yankee to operate without permits or licenses.

and they have been working for over a year to develop a reliability plan.

ISO New England does not have authority to require Vermont Yankee to operate without the appropriate permits and licenses, but it does have the responsibility to ensure a reliable power system. This responsibility requires the ISO to develop alternative solutions that will ensure reliability in the area of the power system that includes parts of Vermont, New Hampshire, and western and central Massachusetts beginning as early as March 2012 if Vermont Yankee can no longer operate.

These alternatives could include interim solutions such as emergency generation brought into Vermont temporarily, more expensive generation from outside Vermont, and demand-side resources. Long-term solutions would include transmission line upgrades as well as other possible solutions, such as private development of new generation, increased energy efficiency, and new sources of imported power. All these options will come at an additional cost. Vermont has little in-state generation apart from Vermont Yankee, which represents more than half of the generating capacity in the state. In 2009, Vermont’s peak consumer demand was 985 MW.

Forward Capacity Market Auction No. 4 – Final Results

The Forward Capacity Market has spurred investment in power system resources and encouraged significant growth of demand resources. The chart below shows that each auction concluded at the floor price with surplus capacity. The result has been lower, prorated capacity prices as well as the assurance that the region will have sufficient resources to meet demand.

Today’s filing with FERC reports that New England procured the 32,127 MW needed for reliability in the 2013 to 2014 time frame. The auction started at a price of nearly $9.84 per kilowatt-month (kW-month). The auction concluded at the floor price set for this auction of $2.95 per kW-month. Results show 32,247 MW of generating resources cleared the auction along with 3,261 MW of demand resources. These amounts include 144 MW of new generation and 515 MW of new demand-side resources. Approximately 5,374 MW of excess supply was remaining.

The Forward Capacity Market was developed by ISO New England, the six New England states, and industry stakeholders to promote investment in demand- and supply-side resources. New England’s capacity market design continues to be developed and enhanced; ISO New England expects to file briefs with FERC in September.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100830006350/en/Final-Capacity-Auction-Results-Surplus-Resources-2013%E2%80%932014

[phantom power]

12. I like your website.

There's a tangent for ya.

[Fledermaus]

13. The OP refers to a blog, which refers to another blog, that refers to another blog post

The last blog, in this daisy chain, refers to this page. This page is the original source of the OP

Your welcome

[kristopher]

14. Did it melt the wires when any of the 27% of US reactors that shut down for more than a year...

...unexpectedly went offline?

Removing a major centralized source of generation is a huge problem... especially when it is unexpected.

The OP is pronuclear garbage.

[joshcryer]

15. The OP is a report from ISO-NE. Should we not trust ISO-NE?

http://www.iso-ne.com/

[kristopher]

16. No, the OP is a nuclear blogger misrepresenting what the ISO said, see post 11.

Of course as an anything-goes supporter of nuclear power you endorse such a misrepresentation.