Cold Weather Can Put A Cramp On The Power Grid - KNDO-TV- msnbc.com

GRANGER--While the cold is leading to a lot of fires, it is also leaving some people in the dark. The city of Granger was without power for five hours Wednesday.

A representative of Pacific Power said that their system is prepared for the extra load that freezing temperatures will bring.

The biggest reason for power outages is not overuse or trees falling on lines. It's careless driving.

"Our biggest cause of outages in the winter is vehicles hitting poles," Clark Satre, Pacific Power, said. "We design our system for weather like this and we expect it. "If we've done our job well, we don't have too many problems."

Wind Watch: Linking offshore wind farms to grid to cost £10bn – and public will pay

It will cost more than £10 billion to build the infrastructure needed to connect offshore wind farms around the UK to the electricity grid, a new report reveals.
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Danielle Lane, development manager at the Crown Estate, said the cost was still a “relatively small” amount compared to the overall cost estimated of bringing on stream 25 gigawatts of wind power, which has been calculated at £80 billion.

A spokeswoman for the Crown Estate added: “It is a lot of money. It’s a big challenge to deliver the government’s target for renewable energy generation.

“The infrastructure needs to be put in place if we are to deliver government targets, and obviously we are committed to working with them to deliver those targets.”

Could the current cold kill the Pine Beetle

Pine beetle experts say the latest cold snap will help -- but they doubt it will be enough to wipe out the pest that has already chewed through hundreds of thousands of hectares of B-C wood.
Forestry consultant Tom Lacey says cold weather, especially early in the winter, is one of the most effective ways of wiping out the voracious bug.
However, he says the current deep freeze may be too little, too late to have a major impact.
Mr. Lacey says he would be disappointed if Mother Nature let humans beat the beetle so easily.