Tag Archives: Electricity

Hundreds leave homes near dangerously crumbling Puerto Rico dam

Local residents look at the flooded houses close to the dam of the Guajataca lake. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

By Dave Graham and Robin Respaut

SAN JUAN (Reuters) – Most people living near a crumbling dam in storm-battered Puerto Rico have been moved to safety, Governor Ricardo Rossello said on Monday, as he urged the U.S. Congress to fund an aid package to avert a humanitarian crisis after Hurricane Maria.

Most of the Caribbean island, a U.S. territory with a population of 3.4 million, is still without electricity five days after Maria swept ashore with ferocious winds and torrential rains, the most powerful hurricane to hit Puerto Rico for nearly a century.

There have been growing concerns for some 70,000 people who live in the river valley below the Guajataca Dam in the island’s northwest, where cracks were seen appearing on Friday in the 88-year-old earthen structure.

An aerial view shows the damage to the Guajataca dam. REUTERS/Alvin Baez

An aerial view shows the damage to the Guajataca dam. REUTERS/Alvin Baez

Rossello said he was working on the assumption that the dam would collapse. “I’d rather be wrong on that front than doing nothing and having that fail and costing people lives,” he said in an interview with CNN.

“Some of the dam has fallen apart and now we’re making sure that we can assess if the other part is going to fall down as well. … Most of the people in the near vicinity have evacuated.”

It was unclear if the governor was saying that most of the 70,000 valley inhabitants had left the area, or only the several hundred people living in the small towns closest to the dam. About 320 people from those towns have moved to safety, according to local media.

The fear of a potentially catastrophic dam break added to the difficulties facing disaster relief authorities after Maria, which was the second major hurricane to strike Caribbean this month and which killed at least 29 people in the region.

At least 10 of those who died were in Puerto Rico, including several people who drowned or were hit by flying debris, and three elderly sisters who died in a mudslide.

Many structures on the island, including hospitals, remain badly damaged and flooded. Clean drinking water is hard to find in some areas. Very few planes have been able to land or take off from damaged airports.

After Maria caused widespread flooding, the National Weather Service warned of further flash floods in some western parts of the island on Monday as thunderstorms moved in.

The hurricane hit at a time when Puerto Rico was already battling economic crisis. [nL2N1M31LR]

Rossello said on Monday that before the storms struck he had been embarking on an aggressive fiscal agenda that included more than $1.5 billion in cuts.

“This is a game changer,” the governor told CNN. “This is a completely different set of circumstances. This needs to be taken into consideration otherwise there will be a humanitarian crisis.”

In Washington, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said Congress was working with President Donald Trump’s administration to make sure the necessary assistance reaches Puerto Rico.

“Our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico remain in our prayers as we make sure they have what they need,” Ryan said in a statement.

Local residents react while they look at the water flowing over the road at the dam of the Guajataca lake.

Local residents react while they look at the water flowing over the road at the dam of the Guajataca lake.
REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

Maria continued to weaken and would likely be downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm by Tuesday night, the National Hurricane Center said. As of 11 a.m. ET (1500 GMT) on Monday, it was about 315 miles (505 km) south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, heading slowly north, the center said.

The storm was unlikely to hit the continental United States directly, but a tropical storm warning was in effect for much of the North Carolina coast. Officials issued a mandatory evacuation order for visitors to Ocracoke Island in the Outer Banks, beginning at 5 a.m. ET (0900 GMT) on Monday.

 

(Reporting by Dave Graham and Robin Respaut; Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen and Peter Szekely in New York and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Frances Kerry)

 

Palestinian Authority halts payments for Israeli electricity to Gaza: Israel

Palestinians walk on a road during a power cut in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip January 11, 2017. Picture taken January 11, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

By Jeffrey Heller

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The Palestinian Authority will no longer pay for the electricity Israel supplies to Gaza, Israeli officials said, a move that could lead to a complete power shutdown in the territory whose two million people already endure blackouts for much of the day.

Thursday’s decision was another sign of a hardening of Palestinian Authority policy towards its Hamas rivals, who control the enclave.

A senior U.N. official expressed concern about the deteriorating energy situation in Gaza and called for swift action by Israeli and Palestinian Authorities and the international community to ensure basic services keep running.

The Western-backed Authority and Hamas are in deadlock in a struggle over a unity deal that could loosen the Islamist group’s hold on the Gaza Strip, territory it won control of from forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007.

A Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, called the decision to halt the payments “a grave escalation and an act of madness”.

Israeli authorities deal with the PA on electrical and fuel supplies for Gaza because Israel does not engage with Hamas, which it regards as a terrorist organisation.

The PA has already taken several steps, such as taxing Israeli fuel it purchases for Gaza’s sole power plant — which has been unable to come up with the funds and stopped operating two weeks ago — to pressure Hamas into new Palestinian elections.

Regaining a measure of control over Gaza could empower Abbas politically as Israel and the Palestinians await a widely expected push by U.S. President Donald Trump for a revival of peace efforts that stalled in 2014.

“The Palestinian Authority has informed (us) it will immediately stop paying for the electricity that Israel supplies to Gaza through 10 power lines that carry 125 megawatts, or some 30 percent of Gaza’s electrical needs,” said a statement from COGAT, Israel’s military liaison agency with the PA.

With the generating plant off-line and Egyptian supplies via power lines notoriously spotty, Israeli electricity has been vital, keeping power on for Gazans, although for only four to six hours a day. Hospitals, ministries and many wealthier apartment blocks have generators but fuel is costly.

“With power outages at 20 hours a day and emergency fuel supplies running out, basic services are grinding to a halt,” Robert Piper, the U.N. coordinator for humanitarian aide and development activities, said in a statement.

Spokesmen for the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Energy Authority declined comment.

Israel charges the PA 40 million shekels ($11 million) a month for the electricity, deducting the sum from the transfers of Palestinian tax revenues that Israel collects on behalf of the Authority.

Israeli sources said Gaza needs 400 megawatts of power to ensure full 24-hour supply to its residents.

That goal is not being met even when the power plant is operational. It usually produces 60 megawatts, added to the 125 megawatts supplied by Israel and 25 megawatts that come across power lines from Egypt.

(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Pritha Sarkar)

Heat wave tests Southern California’s power grid amid gas shortage

Thermometer sign reads 118 degrees, heat

By Steve Gorman and Nichola Groom

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – California’s power grid operators warned homes and businesses on Monday to conserve electricity as rising demand for air conditioning stoked by a record-setting heat wave across the U.S. Southwest tested the region’s generating capacity.

The so-called Flex Alert was posted until 9 p.m. Pacific time during a second day of triple-digit temperatures that strained Southern California’s energy production, creating a potential for rolling blackouts on the first official day of summer.

But the peak hour for energy demand came and went Monday evening without disruption of the region’s power delivery network, the California Independent System Operator (ISO) reported.

“Since we’re past that and have not experienced any trouble, I think we’re headed into the safe zone,” agency spokeswoman Anne Gonzales told Reuters.

Temperatures were expected to begin abating on Tuesday, according to weather forecasts. As of Monday night, there were no plans to extend the Flex Alert, ISO officials said.

Monday’s alert was the first big test of power generators’ ability to meet heightened energy demands in the greater Los Angeles area without natural gas supplies normally furnished by the now-crippled Aliso Canyon gas storage field, effectively idled since a major well rupture there last fall.

The oven-like heat prompted the city of Los Angeles to keep its network of public “cooling centers” – libraries, recreation centers and senior centers – open for extended hours as a haven for people whose homes lack air conditioning.

Area home improvement and hardware merchants were doing a brisk business in fans and AC window units.

Brett Lopes, 31, a freelance lighting technician, stopped in a Home Depot outlet near downtown to buy supplies for a homemade air conditioner he called a “swamp cooler” to use while he waited for his landlord to repair his broken AC unit.

“It’s brutal,” he said of the heat, explaining that he looked up directions on YouTube for assembling the makeshift cooling device. “It doesn’t work as well as AC, but it’s better than sitting in 100 degrees.”

Others flocked to public swimming pools.

“It was really refreshing today, but more crowded than usual,” said Paul Stephens, 31, a pastor who was swimming laps at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena, where the mercury climbed to 108 Fahrenheit (42 Celsius) .

BALANCING THE GRID

The ISO, which runs the state’s power grid, urged consumers on Monday to cut back on electricity usage, especially during late-afternoon hours.

Utility customers were advised to turn off unnecessary lights, set air conditioners to 78 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, and wait until after 9 p.m. to run major appliances, such as clothes washers and dryers.

Gonzales credited public cooperation with the flex alert for likely helping avert widespread outages on Monday.

Large stretches of three states sweltered in a second straight day of record, triple-digit temperatures, as the National Weather Service posted excessive-heat warnings through Wednesday for southern portions of California, Arizona and Nevada, though the hot spell appeared to have peaked on Monday.

Power customers ranging from homes and hospitals to oil refineries and airports are at risk of losing energy at some point this summer because a majority of electric-generating stations in California use gas as their primary fuel.

Since the energy crisis of 2000-2001, the ISO has imposed brief, rotating outages in 2004, 2005, 2010 and 2015, mostly related to unexpected transmission line or power plant failures during periods of unusually high demand.

With California’s largest natural gas storage field shut down indefinitely at Aliso Canyon, state regulators have warned that Los Angeles faces up to 14 days of gas shortages severe enough to trigger blackouts this summer.

Aliso Canyon, owned by Southern California Gas Co, a division of San Diego-based utility giant Sempra Energy, normally supplies the region’s 17 gas-fired power plants, hospitals, refineries and other key parts of California’s economy, including 21 million residents.

The gas leak there, ranking as the worst-ever accidental methane release in the United States, forced thousands of nearby residents from their homes for several months after it was detected last October. The leak was finally plugged in February.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino in New York; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Leslie Adler and Andrew Hay)

Venezuela Makes Fridays Holiday to Ease Energy Crisis

enezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (L) waves next to Diosdado Cabello, deputy of Venezuela's United Socialist Party (PSUV), during the broadcast of his weekly TV program "Hitting with the Sledge Hammer" in Caracas

By Alexandra Ulmer and Corina Pons

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has decreed that all Fridays for the next two months will be holidays, in a bid to save energy in the blackout-hit OPEC country.

“We’ll have long weekends,” Maduro said in an hours-long appearance on state television on Wednesday night, announcing the measure as part of a 60-day plan to fight a power crunch.

A severe drought, coupled with what critics say is a lack of investment and maintenance in energy infrastructure, has hit the South American nation, which depends on hydropower for 60 percent of its electricity.

Venezuela’s opposition slammed the new four-day work week as reckless in the face of a bitter recession, shortages of foods and medicines, and triple-digit inflation.

The measure comes on the heels of Maduro decreeing a week-long break over Easter, ordering some shopping malls to generate their own power, and shortening daily working hours.

“For Maduro the best way to resolve this crisis is to reduce the country’s productivity,” said Caracas city councillor Jesus Armas. “Fridays are free bread and circus.”

Some Venezuelans took to social media to express their surprise. “You must be kidding???,” one Twitter user said. Many others wondered how the measure would impact schools, bureaucratic procedures and supermarkets.

It was not immediately clear how the non-working Fridays would affect the public and private sector.

The 60-day plan’s fine print will be announced on Thursday, said Maduro during the television program, which included music, dancing and giant pictures of late leader Hugo Chavez.

“I think we can overcome this situation without increasing fares or rationing,” added Maduro.

(Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Tom Hogue)

Hackers Access Power Grid, N.Y. Dam; Might Have Accessed Government Talks

Hackers gained access to the United States power grid, including detailed drawings that could have been used to cut power to millions of people, according to a new Associated Press report.

The report, published Monday, indicated that there have been roughly 12 times in the past 10 years when foreign hackers accessed the networks controlling lights across the United States.

That includes one instance where hackers, believed to be from Iran, had swiped passwords and detailed sketches of dozens of power plants, invaluable tools if one planned to cut off the power. Cybersecurity experts told the Associated Press the breach (which affected energy company Calpine, which operates 83 power plants) dates to at least August 2013 and could be ongoing.

The Associated Press reported that hackers accessed passwords that could have been used to access Calpine’s networks remotely, along with highly detailed drawings of 71 energy-related facilities across the country. That could allow skilled hackers to specifically target certain plants.

But targeting a plant and successfully shutting off the power are two different things.

The Associated Press report noted the power grid is designed to keep the lights on when utility lines or equipment fail. To cause a widespread blackout, a hacker would have to be exceptionally skilled, bypassing not only a company’s security measures but also creating specialized code that disrupts the interactions of the company’s equipment. Still, experts told the AP that it remains possible for a sufficiently skilled and motivated hacker to send a large swath of the country into blackout, and enough intrusions have occurred that a foreign hacker can likely “strike at will.”

The Associated Press report was published the same day the Wall Street Journal unveiled that Iranian hackers accessed the controls of a dam about 20 miles away from New York City in 2013.

In another breach, tech company Juniper Networks announced last Thursday that it discovered some “unauthorized code” in its software that could have allowed skilled hackers to improperly access some devices and decrypt secure communications. CNN reported the FBI is investigating the hack because it fears the code might have been used to spy on government correspondence.

Because government use of Juniper products is so widespread, one U.S. official told CNN the hack was like “stealing a master key to get into any government building.” CNN reported a foreign government is believed to be behind the hack, but it still is not clear who is responsible.

Juniper said it released a patch that corrects the issue. The company said it wasn’t aware of “any malicious exploitation” of the security loophole, but noted there likely wasn’t a way to reliably detect if a device had been compromised because hackers could have easily erased the evidence.