Our situation was quite different
from that in the East. The outages we had were controlled
– so-called rolling outages that were for short, predictable
periods of time. In the East it was a complete system failure.
Hearings on the cause of that failure began earlier this month.
In 2001, California had power, but transmission was inadequate.
The connections between the northern half of the state and
the south were too weak. Everyone knew that the crisis was
coming. The signs were all there and everyone knew where the
outages were most likely to occur.
Until recently, California had not built any major new power
plants in more than 20 years. As we grew, we became more dependent
on power markets. Hence the need for those transmission lines. |