Our Electric System: Greatest Decline in Demand Since the Depression

Energy & Science
Biggest Power Demand Plunge Since Great Depression Is Reshaping Markets

Slowdown is squeezing coal, buoying renewables and foreshadowing “grid of the future”

By
Mark Chediak,
Chris Martin, and
Rachel Morison
May 20, 2020, 4:00 AM EDT


The global plunge in electricity demand will drag on long after nations lift stay-at-home orders, leading to the biggest annual drop since the Great Depression and fundamentally reshaping power markets.

As economies struggle to recover, worldwide electricity consumption will decline 5% in 2020, the most in more than eight decades, according to the International Energy Agency. In the U.S. last week, government analysts projected the nation’s biggest drop on record. And in Europe, analysts say a full recovery could take years.

The prolonged slowdown will increase economic pressure

The most financially threatened plants are the nuclear power plants. I wonder why they never mentioned that? 

on older, uneconomic power plants -- especially those that burn coal -- and help speed the transition toward cleaner and cheaper wind and solar. It will also contribute to the biggest annual decline in greenhouse gasses from energy ever recorded.

“This unprecedented drop in demand is foreshadowing the grid of the future,” said Steve Cicala, an economics professor at the University of Chicago. The world is “getting an early look at what high penetrations of renewables will do.”

Cascading Dam Failures in Michigan

Update

Safety advocates think a dam failure or cascading dam failure could lead to a meltdown in the USA.

*You don't see this very often in the USA. So one dam fails, this causes the next downstream dam to fail and so on. Right now its up to three dams have failed. This is way up North in Michigan. I can't see any nuclear plant yet that is threatened.

It reminds me of the upper Midwest spring flooding event that threaten Cooper and Fort Calhoun a few years back.     

Michigan governor orders thousands to evacuate after 2 dams failed, saying one city could be under '9 feet of water'

Updated 7:46 AM ET, Wed May 20, 20

By Rob Frehse, Kristina Sgueglia and Christina Maxouris, CNNCNN)Thousands are under evacuation orders in mid-Michigan Wednesday morning, a day after two dams failed following heavy rain across the state.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency Tuesday night for Midland County after both the Edenville and Sanford dams breached and urged immediate evacuations.
"If you have a family member or loved one who lives in another part of the state, go there now," she said. "If you don't, go to one of the shelters that have opened across the county."

Residents should "seek higher ground" as far east and west of the Tittabawassee River as possible, according to the city of Midland's website.

"In the next 12 to 15 hours, downtown Midland could be under approximately 9 feet of water," Whitmer said Tuesday night in a news conference. "We are anticipating an historic high water level."

River Bend Is a Terrible Plant

I once got three special inspection of large breaker problems at this plant. It cascaded into three special inspection. Entergy and this plant is a very troublesome plant...particularly Entergy's western nuclear plants.  Entergy no longer has any presence in the Northeast.

NRC Begins Special Inspection at River Bend Nuclear Power Plant The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun a special inspection at the River Bend nuclear power plant to review circumstances related to the failure of five portable emergency diesel generators during testing. The plant, operated by Entergy Operations, is located in St. Francisville, La. The generators are used to supply power to plant systems in the event of a prolonged loss of off-site electrical power coupled with a failure of the permanently installed emergency generators. These portable generators were acquired as part of the facility’s safety enhancements mandated by the NRC following the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi facility in Japan. The three-member NRC team will develop a chronology of the test failures and evaluate the licensee’s causal analyses and the adequacy of corrective actions. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they will complete most of their work remotely. An inspection report documenting the team’s findings will be publicly available within 45 days of the end of the inspection.

Triumphalism

Is President Trump Trying To Commit Suicide With Hydroxychloroquine.

President Trump and his family is heading towards being a nationwide pariah for the rest of their lives. He is under extraordinary pressure very few humans can understand. He is a prime candidate for suicide. It is probably the only way his family is going to survive. I think he is committing suicided with Hydroxychloroquine.

You know him, he does everything in a big way!

Game this out, how does things play out if he accomplishes subside. 

The Outcome of China and the USA After coronavirus

I believe in the near future China and the USA are going to be great friends just like we are with the European countries. A 100 year alliance with China. And yep, just like neighbors, we all adapt with living with strange neighbors next door and become good friends. There is no fundamental reason with two completely different governments we couldn't become vast friends. Our fathers and grandfather set in motion our divergent countries...it doesn't have to stay that way. If it is all done for the good of the whole planet and benefits us all. We could police the world together and and set planet wide standards.   

You get it, this virus set in motion the idea all humans behave exactly alike. We now got tremendous new commonality between us. 

NH Predicts 424 Dead by August---Huge Spike in Deaths In Recent Days

Closely watched model now predicts more NH deaths

By Mark Hayward New Hampshire Union Leader
May 13, 2020 Updated 5 hrs ago

An independent health research center has sharply increased its predictions for deaths in New Hampshire, as the Granite State experiences its worst run of COVID-19 deaths.

Granite State deaths could run about 10 a day the rest of May and could go as high as 16, according to May 12 projections from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. That is up significantly from last Friday, when the center projected an upper range of seven daily deaths.

On Wednesday, state officials announced eight more deaths, bringing the number to 150. The number of New Hampshire deaths from COVID-19 has jumped 35% in seven days.

“The mood is one of shock. It’s demoralizing,” said Brendan Williams, president of the New Hampshire Health Care Association, which represents nursing homes.

“We know we are going to have more fatalities, we know there are going to be a lot more COVID cases,” Gov. Chris Sununu said on Wednesday. “It is all about the ability of our health care system to manage the current pandemic.”

As of last week, 72% of New Hampshire deaths were associated with clusters, according to state data. Nearly all cluster outbreaks reported by the state have been in nursing homes.

The data also show that 94% of the COVID-19 deaths in New Hampshire were people 60 or older, and nearly two-thirds were people 85 or older.

“Anyone who’s elderly is at risk. There are elderly people in the grocery store,” Williams said.

“People say, ‘Only those over 60 have died, so why not reopen everything but for those over 60?’” Sununu said. “That’s because those under 60 can easily become a transmitter to a grandmother or someone at work, whoever it might be.”

The IHME frequently updates its predictions based on data from states and countries.

The IHME predicts 424 New Hampshire deaths by Aug. 1, with a possible high of 960. Also on Tuesday, the IHME increased its projections for deaths in the United States to 147,000.

Sununu said the number shows the reason the state has to be careful. But he said the IHME figure is only one of about a dozen projections.

Fermi Nuclear Plant Is Riddled With Coronavirus!!!

This is the first time a virus has disrupted the operation of a nuclear plant. This is a virus the world has never never seen before and it is killing millions of people world wide. The virus has killed 69,079 people in the USA. The NRC should send a big team to the plant to investigate the infections at the plant as this is a first time experience for a nuclear.  I would be mostly interested with how the coronavirus effected the nuclear operation department in the plants. 

Virus puts Fermi 2 refueling outage on hold

TOM HENRY
The Blade
thenry@theblade.com


MAY 4, 2020
7:26 PM

NEWPORT, Mich. — DTE Energy said it instituted “an extended safety stand down” at its Fermi 2 nuclear plant in northern Monroe County over the weekend because of the coronavirus outbreak there, one which will likely keep the plant idle much longer than expected and add to its operating expenses.

The plant was in the midst of its latest refueling and maintenance outage, which began March 21.

The industry standard for completing them has been a month in recent years. The safety stand down began Friday. It is unknown how many of the thousand or so DTE workers and specialized contractors are being paid to stay at area homes and motels until the stand down is lifted. The utility was able to resume some work on Monday, according to a statement issued by Stephen Tait, DTE spokesman.

Refueling and maintenance outages are among the busiest times at a nuclear plants. They happen on average once every 18 to 24 months, depending on the type of uranium in a nuclear plant’s reactor. Hundreds of tasks that can’t be done while the plants are operating are performing while the facilities are taken offline to be refueled. Each refueling consists of replacing a third of the reactor core with fresh steel-cladded, uranium-filled fuel assembles. 

DTE confirmed in early April that it had seen an unspecified number of coronavirus cases among workers assigned to perform tasks, but said it was able to continue moving forward by taking extra precautions.

Now, much of the work has been suspended until test results are completed on all personnel. Workers have agreed to do antibody testing, which requires a finger-prick blood sample, and viral testing, which requires a nasal swab, according to the company statement.

“Crews who maintain the facility in its current idled state remained on the job through the weekend to ensure the safety of the plant,” DTE’s statement reads. “The safety stand down allowed the site to conduct newly available novel coronavirus testing for regular and contractor employees at the facility.”...