California seeks to avoid power outages after Aliso Canyon gas leak
(Adds statement from SoCalGas, background)
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES, April 5 (Reuters) - Power generators in the greater Los Angeles area face up to 14 days of natural gas shortages severe enough to cause blackouts this summer in the aftermath of the months-long methane leak at the Aliso Canyon gas storage field, state energy regulators warned on Tuesday.
Forecasting the likelihood of power disruptions as the region's warm-weather demand for electricity peaks, regulators called for greater conservation and other measures to help offset gas supplies lost as Aliso Canyon remains partially shut down indefinitely.
Owned by Southern California Gas Co, a division of San Diego-based Sempra Energy, Aliso Canyon is the fourth-largest underground gas reserve of its kind in the United States.
The company normally pumps excess natural gas into storage wells deep below the 3,600-acre field during times of low energy use and draws on those supplies when needed to meet the demands of local gas customers and electric power plants.
But following a prolonged gas leak that forced thousands from nearby homes in the northern Los Angeles community of Porter Ranch, SoCal Gas is barred from storing more gas at the site until all the wells there are thoroughly inspected and either deemed safe or shut down.
The pipeline rupture, detected on Oct. 23 and not plugged until mid-February, ranked as the largest methane release in U.S. history, equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of nearly 600,000 cars, researchers found.
Operational constraints since placed on Aliso Canyon, a key energy supplier for the L.A. Basin as a whole, will expose the region to shortages during periods of highest demand, regulators said in their report on Tuesday.
The accompanying plan for addressing the shortage was devised jointly by the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC), the California Energy Commission, the California Independent System Operator, which runs the state's power grid, and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
The plan urges customers and utilities alike to help stretch limited gas supplies through conservation. The CPUC would also gain authority to permit release of 15 billion cubic feet of Aliso Canyon's remaining gas supplies as needed to avoid blackouts.
Those actions "will reduce, but not eliminate, the risk of gas shortages this summer that are large enough to cause electricity interruptions for the region's residents and businesses," the report concludes.
SoCal Gas welcomed the plan, saying it "recognizes the crucial role Aliso Canyon plays in providing reliable energy service to Southern California."
But meeting electricity demands amid gas shortages could be further complicated by the planned decommissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station north of San Diego, even as wind and solar energy account for a growing share of the region's power grid, the utility said.
Environmentalists have seized on the Aliso Canyon disaster and its aftermath to call attention to the hazards of what they say is a continued over-reliance on fossil fuel energy and the aging infrastructure used for storing and shipping oil and gas.
(Additional reporting by Scott DiSavino in New York; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Chris Reese, David Gregorio and Leslie Adler)
