Op-Ed: AES Helps Keep Lights On

On Sept. 8, a blackout hit the greater San Diego area. Fortunately, the problem didn't extend further north, due in part to the continued operation of power plants in the Los Angeles area. As a result of high temperatures, AES had nine of its fourteen units operating when the disturbance occurred—including three at . Combined, these units produce enough electricity to serve over two million homes.

The existence and continued operation of the AES units helped stabilize the system, limit the blackout, and enable service to be restored as quickly as possible.

While the details of the outage are not all known yet, this is an example of why it's important to have generating resources located near where electricity is consumed. When a transmission line from Arizona into Southern California went out of service and power from the nuclear plant in north San Diego County was interrupted, important electricity supplies into San Diego were cut off.

This unfortunate incident also illustrates why the frequency that a power plant operates does not necessarily reflect its value. It's important to have power plants in place and available 24/7 so they are able to respond when they are needed. Power plants that normally operate when temperatures are warmer and demand is high are just as important as plants that operate throughout the entire year. Our units were running and able to respond quickly to keep the lights on because we’re committed to provide safe, clean and reliable power.

Eric Pendergraft
President, AES Southland