A hole in the steam boiler at one of the production units of Israel Electric Corporation's (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) Orot Rabin Power Station at Hadera is liable to force the utility to initiate rolling blackouts.
Electricity demand is likely to reach 10,200 megawatts today, and the country's total production capacity is 10,800 megawatts. This is 2,000 megawatts less than the optimal production capacity, due to the heat wave, the use of diesel instead of natural gas, and unrepaired breakdowns.
Electricity demand could exceed 11,000 megawatts on Sunday, for the first time in Israeli history. The Ministry of Energy and Water Resources is trying to reach independent power producers to receive natural gas, which will boost production capacity by 200 megawatts.
The lower electricity reserves means that the shutdown of a single large IEC production unit, due to a breakdown, is liable to cause an electricity shortage. Today's breakdown at the 575-megawatt Rothenberg Power Station in Ashkelon caused blackouts that lasted for 25 minutes in parts of the country. The production unit is due to get back online later today.
The hole in the steam generator at Orot Rabin's number 5 unit, which also has a 575-megawatt capacity, is more worrying. Despite the risk, IEC has decided to keep the unit operating overnight, on the assumption that the hole is small and can repaired over the weekend, so that the unit can come back on line on Sunday. If, however, the hole is big, and the repair takes longer, IEC will not have the capacity to meet the peak demand expected on Sunday.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 12, 2012
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