California Heat Pushes Power to Six-Year Seasonal High
By Naureen S. Malik and Lynn Doan May 13, 2014 12:01 AM ET
Spot electricity in California, the second-leading power-consuming state, jumped to the highest seasonal level in six years as surging temperatures boost air-conditioning demand.
The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory yesterday for parts of the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas through tomorrow. Temperatures in the interior valleys of the state should rise to 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) with San Francisco reaching the mid-90s tomorrow, the weather service said in forecasts yesterday. The May 13 record high for San Francisco is 87, weather service data show.
California is grappling with a record drought that’s reducing hydroelectric supplies at a time when inventories of natural gas, a fuel used to produce power, are hovering near a decade low. While resources are adequate, the grid operator said last week, the state faces reliability challenges and higher prices, especially after the shutdown of the Edison International (EIX)’s San Onofre nuclear plant.
“This will be a fairly good test of the market being that it is early to get this kind of heat and our eyes should be focused on California given their lack of hydro and lack of nukes,” said Stephen Schork, president of Schork Group Inc., a consulting group in Villanova, Pennsylvania. “We’re going to get greater volatility and greater prices for gas and power.”
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-13/california-heat-pushes-power-to-six-year-seasonal-high.html
