I certainly don't see it that way...

counties, and upstate, had never experienced hurricane winds like these, even during Hugo, the upstate was mostly spared. It's an area where you just don't get widespread high winds. As such, the trees, and forests are FULL of susceptible trees, whereas closer to the coast you have different trees, and over the years weaker trees are weeded out by the occasional hurricanes and tropical storms. Western SC had never seen winds this strong, over this large an area, in....well.....forever. So A LOT more trees came down that would not have fallen in the eastern part of the state, from the same winds. Different types of trees, and nothing to thin the weaker trees, basically led to unprecedented damage compared to hurricanes along the coast. The heavy rain that preceded the winds also weakened the soil and root systems adding to the damage.

Add to that basically a 2015 flooding situation unfolding in western NC, and you get an overall disaster that's probably worse than Hugo. Hugo kept moving fast, this came in fast, slowed down over NC, hit the mountains with tropical uplift and rains, and dumped rains never before seen in that area. Meanwhile, it flew through south GA and western SC at 30mph, a comparable speed to Hugo, which didn't allow weakening.

Add to that the power companies being caught flat-footed, and it's a mess.

flow0440®

Ultimate Tiger [33730]

TigerPulse: 100%

Posts: 38304

Joined: 2003

Sep 30, 2024, 9:13 AM

what could utilities have done differently?

I think most people don't have an appreciation for the complexity of the grid and the level of wide-spread damage.

If Duke gets the majority of the upstate restored by Friday, I would say that's pretty dang impressive based on what I've seen in Anderson.

Many of the same people that complain the loudest in the middle of an outage are the same people that complain the loudest when the utility wants to spend capital on storm hardening and reliability efforts.

I can speak to the Duke system very directly. Over the last few years Duke has installed a HUGE number of reclosers on their distribution lines. I know this project intimately. If you look at the picture of the recloser assembly at the 0:44 sec mark, it shows a recloser fitted with my company's voltage transformers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJmFzp-j9YQ

It was one of the largest projects we've participated in...we supplied approx. 20,000 voltage transformers for that project (3 per recloser) and we weren't the only supplier. Ride down any Duke distribution line and you'll seem them every so often. I can tell you, without the number of reclosers Duke put in over the last 3-4 years, many of the people with power now in the Upstate...wouldn't have it. Duke had to fight like crazy to get regulators to approve that and other similar projects in all of their operating regions. Citizen groups fought it everywhere. I would almost guarantee you that many of those same people both have benefited from it these last few days and are also complaining about Duke's preparedness.

And in terms of crew staging and availability, there's only so much that can be done in such a situation.

I just don't think the power companies "got caught with their pants down". Most people "in the know" are impressed by the collective response...at least on the power side.

flag link

military_tech

thumb_down

thumb_up

I don't think there is any doubt, North and South Carolina power suppliers, and

Aged infrastructure is bad.

I find it sadly ironic that when initial relief efforts are talked about, the

Well, my mother, her only way to communicate or get info was her phone.

I am ordering a transiter radio

Luckily, the distribution transformer market is a bit...

Man, I still have a 135 week lead time on a 2MVA 4160.

yep, 18-24 month lead time on a xforner of any decent size

But you're talking about 3-phase larger C&I units here...

That's 3-phase pad or pole mount?....

Pad-mount

Yeah, I think 300kVA is about the largest standard pole-mount...

Part of it, I've read, is the parts of SC that were hit hardest in the western

If you know where to look, there is an area right outside Holly Hill, SC where

I certainly don't see it that way...

Thanks for the input.

I'm a Duke Energy stan.***

Still sux that im 3 miles by crow flies from Nuke Plt

Proximity to generation plant probably doesn't have much to do...

Sounds like something a power company shill would say.

People around here freaked about the tree trimming.

Yes...utilities are regulated...

I am not an engineer but I see the problem. You installed a lot of

LOL...you might be right...

I read a blip from Duke Energy that across the state ther were over 1,400

ground too saturated to install a new pole in some places

Sumthin, sumthin: too saturated to install a new pole.

Power lines are underground IN my neighborhood, but transmission lines getting

No power here in greenville

I drove thru GVL yesterday, power in many places

Priorities

one town in NC got 30" of rain, you can't plan for that

TigerBoard POTD