HomeMy WebLinkAbout8 Inclement Weather STAFF REPORT
January 9, 1997
To: Board of Directors
From: Bob Quin, Electric Superintendent
Subject: December `96 Report AGENDA ITEM
Holidays and inclement weather prevailed for the majority of December. Needless to say, very
little routine work was accomplished during the month. Between storms and days off, crews did
accomplish the following tasks:
Flickering lights were being experienced by a small number of customers in Glenshire.
Upon investigation, we found the need to add an additional transformer in the
neighborhood. Crews installed a new transformer and the problem was corrected.
Crews began upgrading facilities within the Armstrong tract. With the addition of new
residences, additional transformers need to be installed. In order to accomplish this,
secondary facilities require upgrading along with the reconfiguration of poles and
hardware. This project was begun however, weather has delayed continuous work.
This past year, t reported to you an incident that occurred within our Martis Substation.
During December, crews replaced insulators and the recloser and restored that station to
normal operating condition. Further work will be required later when weather and loading
permit.
Idle facilities were removed adjacent to the Alder Hill Estates subdivision.
Worked continued on the installation of the SCADA system. A communication line was
installed across Hwy 89 from our Truckee substation to Sierra's Truckee sub to facilitate
acquiring metering information.
In addition to assisting with the above projects, the service crew completed 23 service
orders and responded to 16 requests for underground locates (USA's).
On the 21st of December, heavy snows blanketed Truckee. In Prosser Lakeview, two outages,
in different locations, were experienced when heavy snow caused trees to collapse across our
power lines. Power was restored in short order once crews were able to arrive at the locations.
Travel was extremely restricted due to the depth and quantity of snowfall.
On Christmas eve, our customers in Glenshire were out of power when SPPCo lost their
• Glenshire substation. Source of power to our customers was transferred from the Glenshire
station to the SPPCo Truckee substation and power restored for a short period of time.
Unfortunately, a voltage regulator in the SPPCo Truckee station failed and our customers were
again without power. Enough time had elapsed that allowed Sierra to investigate the original
problem and to re-energize their Gienshire sub. After re-energizing, our customers were again
in power only to have insulators on Sierra's distribution circuits fail and knock us out for a third
time. Repairs were made by SPPCo crews and power restored to all Gienshire residents.
On the 28th of December, winds were clocked over Squaw Valley in excess of 160 mph. In
Tahoe Donner, several outages occurred to individual residences as a result of high winds. At
that time, no major system outages occurred to the electrical system. Wind and rain continued
for the remainder of the month and 1997 came in like a lion with heavy rains and flooding.
While this report is for December 1st through 31st, the following is an update of the events that
occurred from the rains and flooding that affected the electrical system:
At the extreme west end of Deerfield Drive, Coldstream Creek became Coldstream River
and washed out soil around one of our distribution poles. The pole was still intact and
hanging by the conductors it was designed to support. An outage of less than two hours
duration was experienced by those customers along Deerfield until the endangered pole
could be isolated and power routed from Martis substation. Since the occurrence, flood
waters have receded and the pole re-set.
Our most critical problem occurred along West River Street when the flooding Truckee
River undercut a portion of the roadway and threatened to washout three of our
distribution poles. in cooperation with the telephone utility and Union Pacific Railroad,
our crews have moved the pole line to the north side of the roadway. This is a temporary
fix as we are encroaching on an active rail line. A permanent fix will require the
installation of underground facilities from a point east of the washout to a point west of
the washout. The replacement of the overhead line with an overhead line is not feasible
as there is not enough area south of the roadway to install poles and the existence of the
rails on the north. When the Town of Truckee completes plans for re-doing West River, l
will update you on proposed plans for the permanent fix. As of this writing, the temporary
poles are in-place and working and a critical tie from the east side of our District to the
west side of our District has been restored.
in the past thirty days, the electric system has experienced heavy snow, extreme winds, heavy
rains, and flooding with minimal impact to our customer's power demands. I have to praise and
compliment the crews that worked during those extreme conditions.
In closing, please reference Steve Hollabaugh's attached memo on purchased energy.