Northeast utilities prepare for threat from tropical storm Hermine

Dive Brief:

Hermine, which came ashore in Florida as a Category 1 hurricane, has now been downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone by the National Hurricane Center but that does not mean electric utilities in the Northeast are in the clear.
According to an advisory issued this morning, the storm is still churning with winds of about 65 miles per hour, slowly moving westward and could continue to impact the United States Atlantic Coast.
USA Today reported tens of thousands of homes in Florida and Georgia lost power when the storm came ashore; now utilities in the northeast are keeping a close eye on the weather system and have secured additional resources to help deal with a potential recovery.

Dive Insight:

Memories of Hurricane Sandy in 2012 causing massive flooding and blackouts among the East Coast still continues to haunt Northeast utilities. Similar to the preparation for Hurricane Joaquin last year, utilities are mobilizing extra linemen across several states as Hermine sits offshore the Atlantic Coast.

Public Service Electric and Gas Company said it had arranged for outside utility crews and contractors to be in New Jersey ready to assist with power restoration as well, and said it expected to have a total of 1,150 line and tree personnel, including its own employees, on hand to help with recovery. According to PSEG, its utility crews will work 16-hour shifts once restoration efforts begin.

“All reports indicate that Hermine will stall off our coast until possibly Wednesday,” John Latka, senior vice president of electric and gas operations, said in a statement. “We want to ensure that we have additional line and tree crews ready to respond should the strong winds bring down tree limbs and power lines."

Over the holiday weekend, Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) and National Grid announced they had mobilized additional crews over the weekend and are preparing for potential outages if Hermine comes ashore.

On Saturday, Georgia Power announced it had restored power to more than 200,0000 customers. The utility's coastal region was hardest hit, with more than 100,000 customers impacted, but the company said it had restored service to more than 70,000 of those customers. The utility said it had more than 3,200 staff on hand to respond to outages.

For real-time information on how the storm is affecting the electricity system, follow EIA's Energy Infrastructure Disruption Map.