In the face of gas supply shortages following a major and prolonged leak at SoCalGas’ Aliso Canyon storage facility, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) now provides timely updates in its ‘Southern California Daily Energy Report’. Withdrawal rates at Aliso Canyon have fallen sharply below the usual 1.9 Bcf/d – causing regulators to place a cap on gas-burn and spurring electricity imports from neighbouring states.
The daily update hence provides a consolidated view of hourly load across Southern California by combining long-available CAISO information for SoCal Edison and the San Diego Gas and Electric with data from EIA's new hourly power data report for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
Temperature forecasts, and recent weather measurements in downtown Los Angeles are also provided – the most significant driver of energy demand in the region. Data updates take place each business day by 10:30 am eastern standard time (7:30 am Pacific)
Load balancing with limited gas-burn
Meeting electricity load during summer 2016 has proven a major challenge due to very limited availability of gas to fuel flexible power generation capacity. Combined-cycle plants have typically supplied about 40% of state-wide electricity load over the past decade.
In June this year, however, the regulator CPUC placed limitations on gas withdrawal from Aliso Canyon storage which greatly reduced dispatch flexibility of gas generators. SoCalGas is only permitted to withdraw up to 5 billion cubic feet over 14 days.
The leak at Aliso Canyon gas storage, locates some 30 miles northwest of LA, was detected on October 23, 2015 – it took over four month to plug it entirely. With a working gas capacity of 86 Bcf and withdrawal rates of nearly 2 Bcf/d, Aliso Canyon normally accounts for about two-thirds of SoCalGas' natural gas storage capacity.