DURANGO, Colo. - Heavy, wet snow is not a friend to electrical lines – a fact that was brought home with a vengeance to the 9300-plus La Plata Electric Association customers in Archuleta County, and almost as many in the Pine River Valley area of La Plata County, beginning at dawn on Fri., Dec. 7.

During the nearly 54 hour period when snow snarled electric lines or forced power poles to the ground, La Plata Electric crews responded to 62 different outages, repairing 75 problems – the most dramatic of which was the fault on the 115 kilovolt Tri-State transmission line between Bayfield and Pagosa, shutting down power to all of Archuleta County.

“Our focus was driven to that outage, because we had to get the transmission line back in operation. We were forced to pull crews off other outages,” said Steve Gregg, LPEA manager of operations. “As it turned out, at the same time we had nearly as many customers out of power in eastern La Plata County. Those were smaller outages, so not necessarily on the big picture radar. But when you’re the one out of power in the middle of a snowstorm, your focus is you, and we understand that.”

At 12:12 p.m., in the midst of the building rain/snowstorm, the fault occurred on the Tri-State transmission line in an isolated, six-mile stretch between Capote Lake and Aspen Springs. Some 30 individuals were called in to walk various parts of the line, which is located .5 to 1 mile off the highway in rough terrain, inaccessible by any type vehicle.

The fault was found in the Devil’s Creek area: a “guy” wire – one of the main supports for transmission lines – had snapped and wrapped itself around the transmission line causing the circuit to open, interrupting the flow of electricity.

“That was unfortunate luck,” said Gregg. “If the guy wire had simply fallen to the ground, there wouldn’t have been an issue. But by recoiling and wrapping around the transmission wires – the system did what it was supposed to do for safety, shut down.”

Gregg lauded Tri-State’s advanced technology that allowed the fault to be isolated to the six-mile stretch. He had less praise for the Forest Service that had required the transmission lines to be “hidden” and isolated far from the highway when Tri-State had constructed the lines.

“It took our people a couple of hours simply to get into the site, let alone find the fault,” said Gregg. “If it had happened in a more accessible location, Archuleta County wouldn’t have been out of power for the extended period.”

Once the source of the transmission line fault was determined at about 3 p.m., the extra crews resumed efforts to correct smaller outages caused by broken poles (3), trees falling through power lines (2), power lines torn down and broken (25) and power lines loaded with snow and twisted together (55).

The major outages in La Plata County included CR 502/CR 228 (Pine Rive Ranches) and the area east of Bayfield including Bear Creek and Beaver Meadows. CR 500 north of Vallecito and CR 246 (Colvig Silver Camps) were also dark. LPEA Dispatch reported calls coming in from the Rafter J area southwest of Durango as well.

“The storm had system-wide impact,” said Gregg. “The LPEA crews were stretched thin. The good news was once the source of the fault in Archuleta was found, crews were freed up to return to La Plata County. It took time to get to some of the outages, but as soon as one outage was repaired, the crews moved on to the next to restore power as quickly as possible.”

It also took time to get the full power restored to Archuleta. According to Gregg, even if a line is repaired, the switch can’t immediately be flipped and the power restored. For safety, and to ensure reliability, each of LPEA’s lines required testing. Also, because the power had been down for so long, the system required a slow, but steady, reboot, which was accomplished overnight. The last of the Archuleta customers affected by the transmission line outage were restored by about 6:15 a.m. on Saturday.

“We had other small outages, though, for other reasons,” said Gregg. “It was a steady stream of weather induced issues.”

“Our dedicated crews from LPEA, plus WESODI, our line contractors, worked around the clock to restore power in very adverse conditions,” said Greg Munro, LPEA CEO, crediting Tri-State personnel as well for assistance. “Thankfully all personnel were able to handle all the issues without anyone being in danger or hurt.”

Specifically, the storm-related outages began at 7:17 a.m. on Fri., Dec. 7, with the last power being restored at 1:06 a.m. Sun., Dec. 9, for a total elapsed time of 53:49 hours. During that nearly 54 hour period, 18,250 customers were affected.

“One of the biggest issues we faced was getting information to our member/customers,” said Munro. “In Pagosa, with the only local radio station out of power, along with the newspapers, we were left with few options. We’re analyzing this incident carefully in preparation for a similar system-wide outage in the future.”

One solution has already been implemented. Because many laptop computers have stored battery power and have wireless option, and an increasing number of individuals receive news and email via PDAs such as BlackBerrys or Palm Pilots, LPEA is turning to the web as well.

“We are initiating the LPEA HOTLINE, which will be a spot for posting emergency notices on our regular web site,” said Munro. “What we also can do, but it will take the cooperation of our member/customers, is issue blast emergency emails. We do have an email directory of a portion of our member/customers, but certainly not all at this juncture.”

Munro added, “I appreciate all those who communicated to us with their concerns. When the electric power is not available there is a domino effect to other services, provided by other entities that we must address and mitigate. We will be working hard to address those issues, and come up with solutions that work and make sense.”

For further information, visit the LPEA web site, www.lpea.coop, or call (970)247-5786.

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