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By KEITH EDWARDS
Staff Writer 12/04/2007

That power advisory expired by Monday, but it underlined the region’s tight energy supply and reliance on natural gas as a power source.

Officials said the weekend’s potential lack of electricity was never due to the snow, the wind or any other weather event. Instead, Mainers were asked to conserve because a temporary lack of natural gas kept some Maine power plants out of service.

Supplies of natural gas were tight because equipment failure closed an offshore platform at Sable Islands off Novia Scotia, industry officials said.

“A number of power plants went out of service in Maine, (because) a significant source of natural gas supply was unavailable,” said Erin O’Brien, a spokesperson for New England ISO, the not-for-profit manager of New England’s six-state electricity grid.

Repairs are under way at the platform, additional power was brought online form elsewhere, and New England ISO officials said Maine’s power supply appeared to be in good shape Monday as snow socked the state.

ISO New England issued one “power watch,” for Maine on Saturday and another Sunday — advisories that are issued when power supplies become tight enough to warrant conservation. In order to conserve electricity and avoid outages, Mainers were asked to voluntarily conserve by shutting off unnecessary lights and deferring doing the laundry and dish washing.

O’Brien said the situation had improved by Sunday evening. No power watch was in effect Monday, nor is one anticipated this week.

Power supplies were also tight due to other constraints on the system, including maintenance work on transmission lines, O’Brien said, but ISO has asked utility companies to stop all maintenance work on transmission lines in order to boost capacity in the short term.

No power outages occurred despite the weekend concerns over a tight power supply.

“There were no power outages. That’s why we have these procedures,” Ellen Foley, another ISO spokesperson.

Central Maine Power Co. spokeswoman Gail Rice referred all questions about the situation to ISO.

Thomas Kiley, president and CEO of the Northeast Gas Association, said diminished natural gas supplies in Maine and elsewhere in the United States resulted from an equipment failure at the Sable Islands natural gas source.

The equipment was repaired Monday morning and was expected to be back in place Tuesday, with a return to service expected by midweek.

O’Brien said she could not reveal which Maine power plants were shut down over the weekend because that information is “commercially sensitive” in the competitive electricity market.

Maine Public Utilities Commission spokesperson Nicole Clegg said at least two gas-fired electricity generating plants in Maine went off-line.

“I think the immediate issue has been resolved,” she said. “But when we have an incident like this, it shows Maine is heavily dependent on natural gas for its electricity. Maine needs to do a better job diversifying.”

O’Brien said the weekend advisories were the first “power watches,” issued by ISO this year. She did not recall the last time ISO issued the more urgent “power warning,” for Maine. She said Maine relies upon natural gas as a source for creating about 47 percent of its electricity supply, compared to an average of 40 percent New England-wide.

O’Brien said the most recent power warning issued by ISO New England was Aug. 1-2, 2006, for the entire region.

Keith Edwards — 621-5647 kedwards@centralmaine.com

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