Short-term blackouts could hit LV

Wednesday, May 16, 2001 | 11:26 a.m.

Nevada Power officials said Tuesday they will do everything they can to keep lights and air conditioners on this summer. Nevertheless, short-term blackouts remain a possibility, they say.

Matt Davis, Nevada Power vice president of power distribution, said the company has prepared extensively for what will be a long, hot summer.

Although the company "has never been prepared as we are this summer," it also has plans to institute California-style rolling blackouts if necessary, he said.

Davis and Nevada Power Regional Transmission Director Mark Shank spoke Tuesday at a luncheon for area media.

Davis said some blackouts would not affect hospitals, sewage treatment plants and other critical needs identified by local governments. Also, casino-resorts and large shopping malls will be spared, he said.

Exempting large gathering spots from blackouts gives people places to go, Davis said.

Residential and smaller commercial users would likely be affected, Shank said.

Local government agencies and state emergency management officials have been preparing for several weeks for a worst-case scenario. State officials and executives with Nevada Power have said blackouts here are unlikely, but the threat of outages has become a reality for nearby consumers in California.

Since the beginning of this year, six blackouts have rolled through the Golden State, and California's power wholesalers have been unable to supply the power needs for the entire state. What electricity they have found has been much more expensive when compared to past years.

Nevada Power officials say they have the contracts to guarantee that the state gets through this summer without local blackouts, but those guarantees depend on the companies and plants producing the power and the transmission lines bringing it here.

The company estimated that 47 percent of the region's power this summer will come from independent electricity producers.

The most likely, if still improbable, scenario for a power interruption would be mechanical problems with generators and transmissions lines to Nevada, Davis said. But if a power wholesaler fails for any reason to provide the state with electricity, "We could be scrambling for additional resources." The outages would roll through Southern Nevada, and any one area would only be affected for an hour, he said.

He said the outages wouldn't affect people in their homes with critical medical needs, such as respirators with oxygen, because they already would be prepared for short-term power losses.

He cautioned that people should not panic if the lights go off. Some power interruptions happen.

"There still could be outages, folks, that have nothing to do with rolling blackouts," Davis said.