EEI honors power companies’ efforts during brutal storm season with emergency response and assistance awards

Published on January 15, 2021 by Chris Galford


Warning: Undefined variable $post_id in /var/www/dailyenergyinsider.com/wp-content/themes/dei/single.php on line 31
Credit: Entergy

The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) presented its Emergency Response Awards this week, crediting the electric companies that rose to the challenge of restoring power following 2020’s record-breaking storm season that struck the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the aftermath of extreme weather events that ranged from hurricanes to ice storms, electric utilities worked to repair extensive damage to critical infrastructure. Last year the power industry frequently utilized its mutual assistance program, a voluntary partnership of companies across the country that help restore power whenever and wherever assistance is needed.

“Over the past year, many of our nation’s electric companies and their customers have endured historic storms and wildfires and other significant weather-related events” EEI President Tom Kuhn said. “Working around the clock to restore power safely and quickly to customers and deploying mutual assistance crews to support impacted companies are hallmarks of the electric power industry. When disasters strike, impacted and neighboring electric companies are quick to assess damage and to respond and assist with restoration.”

Entergy was awarded for taking on several of these dangers, in fact, taking home five awards total for recovery efforts under Hurricane Laura and severe April thunderstorms, and for assistance provided during hurricanes Sally, Isaias and Hanna. “My thanks to our employees and mutual assistance partners for their commitment in response to an unprecedented year of storms during the pandemic,” said Willie Wilson, Entergy’s system storm incident commander.

Cleco, likewise, had to contend with Laura, a 150 mph Category 4 storm that hit southwest Louisiana on Aug. 27, 2020. At the time, it had left half of Cleco’s customers without power – some 288,000 people. It ravaged Entergy similarly, causing more than 616,000 outages across its service area.

“We experienced a record-setting hurricane season in the midst of a global health pandemic, and it’s an honor to dedicate this award to the Cleco team for their unwavering efforts, to the workers from across the country who helped us repair our damaged system and restore power, to our customers for their support and patience and everyone in between,” Bill Fontenot, president and CEO of Cleco Corporate Holdings, said.

That same month, Daytona Power and FirstEnergy had to contend with Isaias, a Category 1 storm that became a tropical storm after first striking North Carolina on Aug. 3, 2020. From there, it rolled up the East Coast, sprouting tornados along the way, making areas impassable and knocking out utility poles and transformers as it went. The two companies mobilized thousands of line workers, hazard responders and other support staff to deal with the crisis.

According to Dayton Power, Isaias affected 5.5 million customers by the time it was done with Pennsylvania. FirstEnergy reported outages among more than 800,000 of its customers. Despite this, FirstEnergy, working with other electric companies, had service restored to 85 percent of affected customers within three days of the storm. Dayton Power brought in a drone to assess wind damage and determine which areas were impassable.

“When severe weather impacts our customers, we have well developed storm restoration plans that are quickly implemented to reduce their outage time and keep them safe,” Sam Belcher, senior vice president of FirstEnergy and president of FirstEnergy Utilities, said. “This award recognizes the efforts of our crews in the field who worked safely around the clock in difficult, and sometimes hazardous, conditions to help our customers and the customers of our partner utilities.”

Elsewhere, the ALLETE companies, Alliant and ITC, were recognized for their efforts in the face of an unusually powerful and sustained August derecho. It brought gusts of more than 80 mph to Illinois and Iowa. Despite the sheer number of storms this year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration labeled this the second costliest weather disaster of the year, and the costliest thunderstorm in U.S. history, bringing with it an estimated $11 billion in damage.

At ITC, this took the form of more than 30 percent of its transmission system being damaged, and at Alliant, 256,000 customers were left without power. Within eight days, ITC had restored transmission service to its distribution utilities, while Alliant had restored service to 90 percent of its customers.

“The historic storm pushed the limits of the crews and operations teams from both utilities, but we at ITC are incredibly proud and thankful for their work to safely and quickly restore the electric transmission and distribution systems to get the lights back on for customers,” Dusky Terry, president of ITC Midwest, said.

To round it all out, Southern Company subsidiary Georgia Power had to contend with Hurricane Zeta, which struck the northern half of Georgia and brought with it sustained gusts of up to 75 mph. It damaged or broke around 700 power poles, nearly 200 miles of wire and more than 250 transformers, resulting in approximately 822,000 sustained outages at its peak. Exacerbating matters was a cold front that followed quickly behind the storm. The company was also credited for helping FirstEnergy following Hurricane Isaias.

“I congratulate and applaud Georgia Power for demonstrating continued commitment to the customers and to the communities it serves,” EEI’s Kuhn said. “In the midst of a global pandemic and often in the most hazardous of conditions, Georgia Power and its frontline employees worked around-the-clock to restore service safely and quickly.”

The Emergency Response Awards are EEI’s way of recognizing the efforts of the nation’s electric companies to either recover or assist other companies amidst service disruptions from extreme weather. Winners were chosen by a panel of judges following an international nomination process, and awards were presented during EEI’s virtual Winter Board and Chief Executives Meeting on Jan. 14.