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ELECTRIC UTILITY OPERATIONS
Utility is able to mobilize crews and equipment quickly due to its proactive emergency response plan.
High wind conditions knocked down several 500-kV DC transmission towers between Oregon and California in March 2010. The extremely high winds caused a cascading effect that took down 11 towers of transmission line near Haiwee, California. The line is operated by Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP) on behalf of itself, Southern California Edison and the cities of Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena.
The DC line affected by the wind storm was built in the 1960s to move power between the Pacific Northwest and Southern California. The northern end is tied into Celilo Converter Station, which is located about 90 miles east of Portland, Oregon. The southern end is 846 miles away at the Sylmar Converter Station on the northern boundary of Los Angeles.
As soon as the towers went down, the LADWP field crews were able to quickly mobilize to the site, assess the damage, and begin making repairs.
Proactive Planning
The DC line failure in 2010 wasn't the first time that LADWP had lost a line. In April 2001, the same line fell down, causing an outage.
Fortunately, this time around, LADWP had a proactive emergency plan already in place. The utility had purchased intertie guy suspension (IGS) tower material, conductor, insulators and hardware in case of a future fall down. LADWP had staged some the preassembled towers at several points along the line.
The utility had mobilized emergency cargo containers for field offices, warehousing and a 40-ft "ready room" for tailgates during inclement weather. These office boxes were powered by a generator and included phone service and Internet access. They also contained multiple tool containers for each end of the line that fell down. Another proactive measure involved using existing contracts for lodging and temporary on-site meals as a way to maximize the crews' time, since the job site was in a remote area not close to restaurants.
The workers also followed the rules and procedures outlined in the utility's emergency response manual. This set of guidelines helped the workers to secure the proper materials and mobilize equipment without a lot of guesswork. For example, the utility had to secure excavation,...