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OUTAGE RESTORATION


Ice storms wreak havoc on powerlines By Randy Riddle


Some winter storms can be devastating to an electric dis- tribution system. A snowstorm, unless a very heavy, wet snow, usually does not cause a lot of trouble. There may be occasional outages that are not actually caused by the snow, but restora- tion efforts may be slowed by the snow.


The real problem is ice. When the ice begins we may have some minor outages caused by the high voltage tracking along the ice on weak or damaged equipment; this could blow fuses or trip breakers. The restora- tion times are also slowed by the road and work conditions. As the ice gets heavier, large trees—even those out of the rights-of-way—may lean and sag onto lines because of the weight and blow fuses or trip breakers. Limbs or lines may start break- ing, causing a domino effect. When a heavily strained pole is broken, several more may break on either side. A widespread power outage, like in past ice storms, can cause problems on many levels. Broken lines, broken power poles and large trees on lines covered with ice are just a few of the prob- lems. Getting to the outages and making repairs when everything is covered in ice makes the work much more hazardous.


Our communications between


crews and the office is much improved since our last major storm in 2007. Our two-way radio system has been replaced with a state-of-the-art digital


Powerlines are weighed down after an ice storm. More so than snow, ice causes damages to the electric distribution system that may result in widespread out- ages. When outages occur, the best way to report them is via SmartHub, avail- able online or as a smartphone application. Photo by Randy Riddle


system that allows truck-to-truck communications anywhere on our system as well as vehicle location technology. This will allow for more efficient and safe restoration procedures. Our communication with our membership has also improved since 2007. Our website was pushed out early because of the storm and there were a lot of bugs to work out. The website today is much more user-friendly, with easy access to outage information and other helpful information.


Our Facebook page is another means of communication we have added since 2007. We use it as a tool to update our mem- bers on current events at VVEC, including outage information. The best way to report outag-


es is with the SmartHub applica- tion, available to all of our mem- bers, either through our website or via smartphone. With Smart- Hub members can instantly see if their account is affected by an outage that has been reported. If the outage has not been report- ed the member can report it from the app within seconds. We understand a lot of our members want to talk to a per- son to report and get outage information, but answering hun- dreds or even thousands of calls during an outage is very difficult. Our phone system has 46 incom- ing lines to our offices entering our building via fiber optics. The only issue with the digital signal is that when all 46 lines are busy


Continued on Page 4 January 2017 VVEC Power Circuit 3


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