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Guardians of the grid

LPEA crews, dispatchers keep power on

As soon as lights in the La Plata Electric Association distribution area flicker or go out, the reaction in the cooperative’s dispatch center is immediate.

A battery of monitors tells the dispatcher where the outage is and how many customers are affected.

The dispatcher decides whether to send a lone serviceman, such as when a truck knocked down a light pole Wednesday at 20th Street and Main Avenue, or get a full crew on the job.

All communications go through the dispatchers. They work 12-hour shifts – 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., take a week off, then come back to a week of 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The major reasons for a power outage are lightning strikes, a tree or a branch across a line or the accumulation of snow.

A potential outage sometimes corrects itself, LPEA operations manager Steve Gregg said Thursday during a tour of the dispatch center.

If wind whips a tree branch against a power line momentarily, a breaker waits two or three seconds to determine if the interruption is going to last, then closes the circuit. If such an interruption occurs two more times, the breaker opens the circuit, which tells the dispatcher there’s a problem.

In the 1990s, LPEA began to raptor-proof lines and poles to prevent the electrocution of eagles and hawks. But squirrels, skunks and raccoons still find their way into substations, where they come into contact with exposed pieces of equipment.

An outage can happen from the most mundane of occurrences. Gregg recalled that a few months ago, crewmen inspecting a line couldn’t see from the ground any reason for an outage. But with binoculars, they made out a banana peel, apparently dropped by a bird, that had shorted out the line.

When the lights go out for a minimum of 250 customers, dispatchers alert Indiana Reed, the cooperative’s public information officer.

Reed immediately sends news releases to media outlets and updates information as she learns more.

“Dispatch also calls me when maybe not many customers, but a lot of people, are affected,” Reed said. “An example is a daytime outage in downtown Durango.”

LPEA’s ability to respond to outages as well as carry out its daily missions rides the coattails of rapidly advancing technology, Gregg said.

Dispatchers who monitor computers can view GPS maps to see where an outage has occurred and send a crew, Gregg said. The GPS also shows dispatchers where a crew is, where the truck is going and how fast it is traveling.

If a crew in the field needs directions to a gas well pad located in the maze of unmarked roads, the dispatcher can trace a visible route on his map, then send a copy to the crew’s iPad.

The public also can see outage areas on GPS maps. Going to www.lpea.com brings up the LPEA website. Click on Products and Services to find the outage status map. A hard-hat icon tells viewers that a crew is on the job.

The Outage Management System also has an automatic call-back component. A customer can register three phone numbers on which LPEA will leave information about outages if the customer has called.

LPEA also will alert customers about planned outages, such as when roadwork by the city, county or state requires power to be shut off.

“We invest $12 million to $14 million a year in upgrading our system,” Gregg said. “One result is that we easily meet the federal Rural Utility Service requirement that no customer be without power for more than 300 minutes a year.”

LPEA customers average about 70 minutes a year without electricity, Gregg said.

The much-maligned AMI or smart meters alert the dispatch center when power is cut. Smart meters have been installed in upward of 60 percent of the LPEA’s 30,000 customers.

Parenthetically, Gregg said, smart meters record only total electric consumption. They’re not smart enough to pinpoint specific uses as smart-meter detractors maintain.

In preparation for emergencies, three linemen are always on off-hours stand-by, Gegg said. They’re on stand-by for a week, which requires taking a company truck home so they can roll immediately if needed. The duty rotates every five to six weeks.

It’s nothing to do with emergencies, but smart meters log information that can answer customer questions about usage, Gregg said.

If someone notes an increase or a spike in electric consumption, the meters show graphically usage by day (hour to hour), by week or by month.

daler@durangoherald.com



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