Maine’s excess power needed Other N.E. states receive warning

loading...

BANGOR – Maine had enough extra electricity to energize all the homes in Hartford, Conn., and then some on Thursday, but could not get it out of the state to help them or the rest of New England.

At another point, enough electricity from other states to fuel all the businesses in Hartford could not get on the grid.

While New England was eating up most of the power that was available, “bottlenecks” in the transmission grid prevented 450 megawatts of electricity from being used. About 150 megawatts – enough for use in 150,000 homes – couldn’t leave Maine, and a temporary fault on one of the lines held up another 300 megawatts.

A “bottleneck” is formed when the power can be made but it can’t get to where it’s needed because of a fault in the transmission systems.

And it was needed. New England set a record for power use Thursday, using 25,038 megawatts of power at 3 p.m.

That 450 megawatts of electricity might have been enough to prevent ISO New England, the governing board of the six-state power grid, to tap into its reserve Thursday and issue a power warning for five of the six states, excluding Maine because it had the excess power.

“It would have made an impact,” said Joe Sukaskas, a senior engineer with the Maine Public Utilities Commission, about the bottlenecked power. “ISO wouldn’t have had to be so white-knuckled about how they ran the rest of the grid.”

A power warning is an urgent call for conservation because the grid is in peril. People were asked to turn off any unnecessary appliance or piece of business equipment.

A power warning has been issued for today in all New England states except Maine.

Maine electricity users, though, still are being encouraged to conserve electricity, Sukaskas said.

Power plants and the transmission lines are operating under adverse conditions, he said, and excessive pressures could cause them to trip offline.

In other states, transformers have shut down because of the heat, causing thousands of homes to go without power. That could happen in Maine, Sukaskas said, if any part of the grid is stressed. For Maine, the absence of another transmission line to connect the state to the rest of New England is causing power generators to not produce all the electricity they are capable of making.

With the need for more electricity the focal point in the nation’s conversations on a substantive energy policy, the lack of transmission to carry it seems to fall by the wayside, according to ISO spokeswoman Ellen Foley. ISO is working on a five-year outlook on what is needed to get power out of the areas where generation is strong, but the electricity may not be able to be shipped.

But building another line between Maine and New England is not in the works, said PUC chairman Tom Welch.

“To be perfectly honest, that surprises me a little bit,” Welch said. “Maine has lots and lots of power and the rest of New England is short. I think if that interface were open, New England would be a little less short.”

Generator Calpine, with three new plants online in Maine that make 900 megawatts of electricity, was able to ship all its electricity Thursday, as did Duke Energy in Veazie.

But they are concerned about what kind of impact the lack of another transmission line from Maine to New England could have on the future stability of the region’s power grid.

“[It] is one reason why probably no more power plants will be built in Maine anytime soon,” said John Flumerfelt, a spokesman for Calpine.

Heat causes havoc

Extreme heat, humidity and ozone levels affected more than New England’s power grid Thursday.

That combination, along with low amounts of wind, forced the Environmental Protection Agency’s New England office to issue an alert for “very unhealthy” air quality.

“We’re asking everyone to take it easy, including healthy adults, people with respiratory ailments and kids,” said EPA spokesman Mark Merchant, in Boston.

Ground-level smog forms when volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides interact with sunlight and heat, he said.

Throughout Maine, at least 30 people have sought treatments for heat-related symptoms at area hospitals.

Although he does not have a specific number, Dr. Jeff Raub of the emergency room at St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor said the staff has treated people complaining of respiratory problems.

Raub said everyone should take precautions to avoid heat stress, heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

A person suffering heat stress, he said, will feel light-headed, weak and be dehydrated. Nausea and vomiting will accompany those symptoms, causing heat exhaustion. If a person has those symptoms and a high temperature, he may be experiencing heat stroke, which is life-threatening.

Raub said people, especially those taking diuretics or any medication that may prevent them from sweating, are encouraged to drink lots of water, wear light clothing, clean the filters on their air conditioners, and stay in a cool place.

The extreme weather conditions were too much for officials at Acadia National Park’s visitors’ center in Hulls Cove. They closed the center shortly after 5 p.m. because temperatures inside the building topped 102 degrees, said supervisor Betty Lyle. The temperature had been hovering around 100 degrees most of the day, she said.

The visitors’ center does not have air conditioning, Lyle said, and staffers have been coming to work early every morning during the heat wave this week to set up fans in an attempt to try to cool the building.

Approximately 5,000 people pass through the center each day in August, Lyle said.

Children

Of concern to the Maine office of the American Lung Association were children. The ALA issued an alert for parents and caregivers to watch children for possible heat-related health problems such as wheezing and coughing.

Children like to stay outside, and usually are more aggressive and vigorous in their activities than adults during summer months, said ALA spokeswoman Jane Ann McNeish. They need to slow down, she said.

“[Children] think about the heat but not that they’re breathing in ozone,” said McNeish. “Parents just have to be vigilant. Most of the time, kids won’t tell you [they’re having problems.] They don’t want to come in and they won’t tell you if they are wheezing.”

At The Sharing Place day care center in Orono, children are going outside earlier in the day before temperatures heat up, and then for no more than 15 minutes at a time.

“No more than that,” said acting director Terri Hutchinson. “We’re keeping them inside and we’re lucky enough to have air conditioning.”

Animals

The heat was brutal for four-legged Mainers as well.

Brewer police were called to the Brewer Shopping Center at high noon after a Good Samaritan called to report seeing a small dog, apparently in distress, inside a parked car with no people in sight. Though the dog’s owner drove off before police arrived, a witness was able to provide a license plate number.

“I heard a yelping sound, howling kind of, from an older-type car in the parking lot,” said Michael Boynton of Veazie, an employee of Phillip Morris USA who was at the shopping center.

When Boynton looked in the car, he saw a small dog inside. Though the driver’s side window was half down, the other three were cracked only a few inches.

Fifteen to 20 minutes after he first noticed the dog, Boynton saw four people get into the car and drive off.

“I figured I’d stay out of it and let the police handle it. I would not have been a pleasant person. I felt like putting them in the trunk to see how they liked it.”

Bangor Humane Society adoption representative Janie Brackett cautioned that pets should never be left in parked vehicles. On hot days, interior temperatures can reach 160 degrees in as little as 10 minutes. Pets subject to high temperatures can get heat stroke.

“Pets don’t perspire like people do,” Brackett said. “They can only perspire by panting. With only hot air to breathe, they could suffer permanent brain damage in moments. And if care isn’t given immediately, your pet could die.”

Pets exposed to prolonged high temperatures require expert medical attention.

NEWS reporters Dawn Gagnon and Bill Trotter, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.