PROTECTING THE GRID

By Josh Filler, Vice President & Chief Operating Officer - Electric Operations

Securing and protecting our electric grid is a top priority. Electric cooperatives incorporate multiple layers of security across our systems to monitor and protect critical infrastructure from natural and manmade threats. We work to stay ahead of security challenges by collaborating with industry partners, peer organizations, government agencies and local officials.

We apply innovative technologies to improve grid resilience and reliability to members. A resilient electric grid begins with a system designed to withstand high winds, powerful storms, cybersecurity threats and other disruptions that could result in outages.

Resiliency is a 24/7, 365-days-a-year task. Whether it is the power lines, substations or generation facilities on our grid, it takes proactive maintenance and investment to keep them running smoothly.

Throughout the year, we regularly conduct substation, pole and line inspections. Our goal is to find a problem before it becomes one. For example, if we find a pole that has damage from wood rot or woodpecker holes, we replace that pole. Doing so ensures that the pole is as strong – or as resilient – as it can be.

We have confidence in the resiliency of our system and work every day to prevent power outages or recover from them as quickly as possible. Please contact us if you see something of concern within our system (broken pole, trees growing into power lines or someone tampering with or damaging utility equipment). With your help, we can ensure our electric system is both protected and resilient.