3 minute read
Winter Storm Landen
By Josh Filler, Vice President & Chief Operating Officer - Electric Operations
From time to time, mother nature causes damage to electric infrastructure. Winter storms have the potential to cause multi-day outages. Depending on the severity of the storm, the damages could be extensive to assess and dangerous to our crews. Winter storm Landon brought heavy snow and ice to Ohio in early February. The brunt of the storm hit electric cooperatives in the southern part of the state, including our neighbors in Muskingum and Fairfield counties. Guernsey-Muskingum Electric Cooperative, South Central Power and Washington Electric Cooperative experienced extended outages for nearly 20% of their membership.
In times like these, we rely on Cooperative Principle #6: Cooperation among Cooperatives. Thankfully, Energy Cooperative did not sustain damage from the recent storm, and we were able to keep our members power on. After ensuring our members power stayed on during (and after) the storm, we sent line crews to work on outages for Guernsey-Muskingum Electric Cooperative and South Central Power. Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives organized mutual aid for cooperatives in need, sending line crews and equipment from other Ohio cooperatives.
Energy Cooperative sent a line crew to Guernsey-Muskingum Electric Cooperative for two days. During that time, our crews were able to help restore power for their members. We also sent a line crew and our track machine to South Central Power in Lancaster. The track machine is capable of setting poles in treacherous terrain, and (as you can see in the pictures) they needed it. Five of our linemen worked in Hocking County to restore power in portions of South Central’s most unsafe terrain. Our crews met heavy ice falling from trees and roads blocked by fallen tree limbs and electric lines. By chance, Ohio Electric Cooperative’s photographer Tim Baldwin followed our crews as they worked on outages for South Central Power. His photos highlight the dangerous conditions our crews faced and give insight to the hazardous nature of our work.
Mutual aid is an integral part of the cooperative model. It means we help and support other cooperatives in times of need. There is an understanding that those who can send crews and resources do it, because one day they may be the ones asking for help. Typically, mutual aid support in our areas extends to the Eastern and Midwest Cooperatives. Energy Cooperative recently sent crews to Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia to help cooperatives with storm-related outages. If someday the Energy Cooperative has a major storm event, we know we can count on crews from local and out-of-state cooperatives to send help and reinforcements.
-Todd Ware, President & CEO
