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Morning News

Power Crisis: Behind the Scenes at a California Power Plant

Aired January 4, 2001 - 11:12 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Our next story also coming out of California, but something that could affect everybody across the country. For the next couple of days, we here at CNN are going to focus special attention on the power crisis in California. We have an eye on whether a similar crunch could reach beyond that state's borders.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And there is a chance that could happen. Now, the focus is fitting, considering that state regulators are expected today to approve a hefty rate increase aimed at bailing out two California utilities.

KAGAN: Electricity something we all take for granted: flip a switch, there it is.

HARRIS: There's a lot more to it than that, though. And CNN's Greg LaMotte has gone straight to the source for us. He's going to show us around a Long Beach, California power plant this morning.

Greg, take it away.

GREG LAMOTTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Leon, I figure that most people's knowledge of electricity probably starts and stops with the flip of a switch. We do a little Energy 101, if you will, today and show people exactly how electricity is made and ultimately gets into their homes.

As you can see, we are at a power plant, and obviously that's where power is created. This is a huge facility -- huge. Now, it all starts, ultimately, with water because it's the production of steam. And right behind me, as you can see, are two distilled tanks, distilled water inside of them, each one holding well over 100,000 gallons of water. That water is used to go into huge boilers that are inside this building.

Now, once inside the boilers, the water inside this boiler is boiled, obviously, and steam is produced. And once that happens, the steam is forced down through these pipes, or headers, as they are called, and at a very high rate of speed. And you'll understand in just a moment why we need that high rate of speed.

We're going to walk over and talk to Mark Woodruff. He is the president of this particular facility. It is owned by AES Southland. As part of deregulation in 1996 in the state of California, part of the deal was that the utilities had to sell their power-generating plants.

Good morning, Mr. Woodruff.

MARK WOODRUFF, PRESIDENT, AES SOUTHLAND: Good morning, Greg.

LAMOTTE: We just told our viewers that we've got the distilled tanks over here, the water goes into the boilers, the boilers boil the water, steam is produced and it comes down through these headers and goes over to these turbines that are right behind you. We can't see what's going on inside. In layman's terms, can you tell us what's happening in these turbines?

WOODRUFF: Well, these high-pressure steam turbines are a little bit like giant windmills. High-pressure, high-temperature steam runs through these turbines, which turns the generators behind us to generate electricity.

LAMOTTE: Now, what is it that's generating electricity or making electricity? As I understand it, it's a spinning magnet.

WOODRUFF: Exactly. These generators behind us are a little bit like motors which run in reverse. The steam turbines, or giant windmills, turn those motors in reverse. And instead of absorbing current like a motor, they push current back out onto the system.

LAMOTTE: We are going to go into the control room. We're going into the control room. You'll want to see this because it's certainly like being in a spaceship. Now, once the electricity leaves the turbine, it goes into a transformer; and from that transformer, goes up through these wires and is sent to, ultimately, a switching station. And from the switching station, it goes out into what we call the power grid. And from the power grid, electricity ultimately makes its way to homes and businesses.

Now we are in the control room. And as you can see, this is like being in space station of some sort: bells, whistles, all kinds of things all over the place. You can see the computers. One of the more visual things that we see here is the constant monitoring of the flames for the furnace. They are keeping an eye on those flames to make sure they are indeed going to fire up the boilers that's necessary for the production of steam.

One other question that I wanted to ask you, Mark, is one of the things that everybody seems to be pointing at, the utilities, other members of -- high officials in the state are saying, it's the generators of electricity, people like yourself, that are charging unbelievable rates to the utilities, and that's why this rate increase is needed. What can you say to the folks who are pointing the finger at you saying, why are you charging those big-time rates?

WOODRUFF: Well, it's certainly understandable. However, this year versus last, the price of natural gas has risen by a factor of five; emissions credits have risen by a factor of 50, and demand has just exploded. In fact, the California ISO estimates that we'll need -- California will need approximately another 10 plants just like these just to keep pace next year with load growth that we've experienced this year.

LAMOTTE: Mark Woodruff. He's the president of AES Southland, the owner of this particular power generating plant.

Some people say there is not a power shortage, as you might be led to believe, it's an economic crisis. But if you talk to a lot of folks, including Mark right here, he says it's a little bit of both: a power shortage because of high demand and the increased cost of natural gas, and at the same time the economic impact of the cost of natural gas that they ultimately have to pass on to consumers.

And as you mentioned, Leon, earlier, the Public Utilities Commission of California today is expected to approve rate increases for California's two biggest utilities: one of 9 percent for the residential consumer, and one of 7 to 15 percent for commercial customers -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right, that's right, Greg. Thanks much. We're going to be looking at that issue quite a bit throughout the day here on the network.

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