Investor-owned utilities mobilize massive response to Ian
Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) on Thursday continued restoring power to customers impacted by Hurricane Ian, which weakened as it continued a destructive path that is now expected to regain hurricane heft as it moves near Georgia and the Carolinas, where more investor-owned utilities (IOUs) are preparing their own responses.
“Be weather aware and keep safety top of mind as you prepare for #HurricaneIan,” tweeted Georgia Power Co. “We are ready to get you restored safely and as quickly as possible if outages occur.”
Hurricane Ian made landfall around 3 p.m. (EST) on Wednesday as a Category 4 hurricane near Cayo Costa, Fla., one of the barrier islands just west of Fort Myers, Fla, causing life-threatening storm surge, catastrophic wind damage, and heavy rainfall as it pushed inland. The high-end hurricane packed sustained winds of 150 mph, torrential rain, unprecedented storm surge, and tornadoes.
As of this morning, some 2.6 million electricity customers were without power in Florida, though FPL reported later in the day that it has restored power to more than half a million customers via its restoration workforce, which increased to more than 20,000 men and women, including mutual assistance from 30 states.
Such mutual assistance is vital for preparation and response to natural disasters, according to Tom Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), which represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies.
Kuhn said EEI and its team is closely coordinating with the electric companies impacted by Hurricane Ian, and those in the path of Ian have strategically prepositioned equipment, resources, and workers from other states to assist in their storm response as conditions allow.
Before noon today, nearly 44,000 workers from at least 32 states were mobilized to assist when and where they could depending on the level of safety, according to EEI.
“Power restoration is a team effort. The CEO-led Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council is engaged to ensure unity of effort across the highest levels of industry and government,” EEI said. “Strong industry-government coordination and cross-sector collaboration are critical.”
Rebuilding required
In Florida, while working around the clock to restore power to its customers, FPL said it is also starting to assess the damage, and anticipates that some customers will face prolonged outages because portions of the electric system in southwest Florida will need to be rebuilt rather than repaired.
“Hurricane Ian has forever altered the lives of so many of our fellow Floridians and we recognize the road to recovery will be long and challenging,” said Eric Silagy, FPL’s chairman and CEO, in a statement today.
“We understand how difficult it is to be without power and our dedicated men and women will continue to work around the clock until every customer’s electricity is back on,” added Silagy. “That said, the catastrophic nature of this storm means that we may need to rebuild parts of our system in southwest Florida, which will take time.”
FPL damage assessment teams are working across the company’s service area, including dozens of drone teams, according to a company statement, and thus far FPL has mobilized 37 staging, parking and processing sites around the state and positioned personnel and equipment to begin the power restoration process. FPL also has specialized crews working to clear downed trees, debris and other damage to allow lineworkers to gain access and restore service or, in some cases, begin the rebuilding process.
At the same time, FPL also warned that some homes and businesses may have suffered damage that makes them unable to safely accept power.
Meanwhile, Tampa Electric has assembled a crew of 3,000 crew members to restore power after the storm. In total, the storm knocked out power to 295,000 of its customers. By 2 p.m. Thursday, power had already been restored to 37,000 customers, or about 13 percent of those affected, Tampa Electric said.
“Our goal is a safe and efficient restoration,” said Archie Collins, president and chief executive officer of Tampa Electric. “Tampa Electric prepares our team for hurricane season throughout the year, continuously updating emergency response plans and holding mock drills so that we can be ready to execute the safest and fastest restoration possible when storms hit our area. Restoration will take days – but, thankfully, not weeks.
More coastal chaos
The National Weather Service (NWS) tweeted earlier today that “at 11 a.m. EDT the center of #Ian has emerged into the western Atlantic & is expected to become a hurricane again this evening & make landfall as a hurricane on Friday. Hurricane Warning issued for the entire coast of South Carolina.”
Now Tropical Storm Ian, it will move along the eastern coast of Georgia today, then ramp up into Hurricane Ian #2, which will slam into South Carolina’s coast on Friday morning. Ian then will once again become a tropical storm on Friday night as it hits North Carolina’s coast, according to NWS data.
On Wednesday, states of emergency were declared by the governors of North Carolina and South Carolina.
Duke Energy said it has been closely monitoring the approach of Ian and preparing for potential impacts in the Carolinas, according to Jason Hollifield, Carolinas storm director for Duke Energy.
“Supporting our communities is our top priority and we have thousands of Duke Energy crew members and contractors ready to respond should outages occur,” Hollifield said in a statement Thursday.
Duke Energy has 5,200 local responders organized into travel teams — including line technicians, vegetation specialists and damage assessors — who are familiar with existing company systems and infrastructure in the Carolinas. They are being staged across all Duke Energy service areas throughout the Carolinas, the company said, and are checking local equipment, supplies and inventories to ensure adequate materials are available to make repairs and restore power outages.
In addition to trimming trees and upgrading wires and wood poles in anticipation for such storms, Duke Energy also has invested in smart technologies and remote restoration capabilities to help reduce the duration and number of outages, and to more quickly restore service when outages do occur, according to Hollifield.
Another IOU, Dominion Energy South Carolina, also said it is preparing and ready to respond to the potential impacts of Hurricane Ian.
Crew members, vehicles and equipment are staged throughout Dominion Energy’s service territory in South Carolina, with approximately 200 additional crew members and contract resources scheduled to arrive from Dominion Energy Virginia.
Other readiness measures include Lake Murray, which is currently below normal levels due to dry weather during the summer. Dominion Energy has continued releasing water this week while monitoring the path of the storm and is prepared to make any additional adjustments if needed, the company said.
“We prepare for severe weather year-round, but every storm is different,” said Keller Kissam, president of Dominion Energy South Carolina. “The most important thing for us is the safety of our employees who will be out there doing dangerous work as well as the safety of our customers and everyone in the communities we serve.
“While we hope for the best, we’ve got to be ready for whatever Ian brings our way,” Kissam said.
