December 7, 2012
Southwestern Helps Restore Power After Hurricane Sandy
 |
Line crews from Southwestern repair
distribution lines in Tom's River, New Jersey,
following Hurricane Sandy. |
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in early November 2012, Southwestern Power Administration sent several line, substation, and right-of-way brush crews and 30 pieces of heavy equipment to help restore the electrical grid along the coast of New Jersey near where the storm made landfall.
At the request of the Department of Energy and under the direction of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), personnel from Southwestern's maintenance facilities in Gore, Oklahoma; Jonesboro, Arkansas; and Springfield, Missouri, mobilized on November 2, 2012, to join crews from Western and Bonneville power marketing administrations (PMAs) to assist FirstEnergy Corporation in some of the hardest hit areas of the Garden State. The Southwestern team, including 13 linemen, 10 equipment operators, and eight substation electricians, as well as management and logistics personnel, met up in Effingham, Illinois, and traveled to New Jersey in a mile-long convoy of boom trucks, bucket and line trucks, and other vehicles, including two pole trucks carrying 26 sixty-foot wooden poles.
"Our mission was to provide any assistance requested of us by FEMA," says Carlos E. Valencia, Director of the Division of Maintenance, who led Southwestern's team. "Even before we arrived, and especially during the recovery efforts, we had daily conference calls with representatives from FEMA, Bonneville, Western, and FirstEnergy, regarding the directions to follow and the safety and progress of our crews." Expand/Collapse
 |
Southwestern and Western crews scramble up a transmission structure
to repair a 230-kilovolt line damaged
by the storm. |
Once in New Jersey, Southwestern was directed to report to Tom's River township near Lakehurst to repair distribution systems and help restore power to the barrier islands that took the brunt of the storm.
"The barrier islands were the most devastated areas," says Valencia. "We worked alongside the other PMAs to perform line patrols and install and repair poles. There are six substations on the island there and some had been under water, so our right-of-way crews helped with cleaning out gravel, mud, and other debris."
Jonesboro Craft Superintendent Kenny Broadaway noted that the area was off limits to the general public. "The islands were only open to emergency personnel and FEMA crews. There was a single 34.5-kilovolt line to the island that was severely damaged, with poles leaning into other objects, broken off, or simply washed away. We had to get that line back up before they'd let the residents back in."
Southwestern carried out its assignments under a variety of challenging conditions, including working on a live 230-kilovolt line near Tom's River to replace insulators. Valencia notes, however, that safety was everyone's paramount concern. "Administrator Chris Turner wanted to make sure that we continued to follow Southwestern's safety guidelines. We conducted all of our work in a safe manner and held our safety meetings every morning. Safety was and is our number one priority."
When the FEMA contract ended on November 9, 2012, Southwestern stayed on under contract with FirstEnergy to provide further assistance as needed. The work ended November 13, 2012, and Southwestern's employees were all home by November 16, 2012.
"Southwestern received some great compliments from both FEMA and FirstEnergy on our quality of work and how efficiently we do our job," says Valencia. "I am very proud of our crews. We traveled over 4,000 miles, provided 110% to the customers – FEMA and FirstEnergy – and brought our crews home safe and sound. The mission was a success."
 |
The Southwestern team gathered for safety meetings at the staging grounds
in New Jersey on each morning of the restoration effort. |
 |
| Chris Turner |
Christopher Turner has been named as the new Administrator of the Southwestern Power Administration (Southwestern) in Tulsa, OK, effective July 29, 2012. Mr. Turner brings to Southwestern 30 years' experience in the electric utility industry, including various leadership positions involving transmission and distribution construction, energy trading, bulk power operations, resource planning, and compliance with North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) standards.
Mr. Turner began his career as a Test Engineer with Georgia Power after graduating from The Citadel in 1982 with a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering. Over the next 17 years with Georgia Power, he held several progressive positions, including Transmission Planning Engineer, Transmission Control Center Supervisor, and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Systems Supervisor. While with Georgia Power, Mr. Turner attained his Master's degree in Business Administration from Georgia State University and his Professional Engineer's license.
In 2000, Mr. Turner joined Southern Company Engineering Marketing (later Mirant), a wholesale generating company, where he worked as Manager of Real Time Trading and Asset Optimization for the Western United States Region, running the real time trading organization and dispatching and optimizing the output of 15 generating plants.
After leaving Mirant in 2003, Mr. Turner took the position of Director of Resource Planning at PacifiCorp, a private utility serving customers in the western United States. In this role, he provided leadership and direction in planning and identifying major transmission and generation asset additions or commercial resource alternatives for long-term resource adequacy in PacifiCorp's six-state territory.
Mr. Turner stayed in the western area of the country with his move in 2006 to Seattle City Light, a municipal utility serving the citizens of Seattle and surrounding areas. Here, he acted as Director of System Operations and NERC Compliance, and his duties included not only oversight of dispatch functions and optimization of Seattle City Light's generation and transmission systems, but also formation of the company's NERC compliance group, which required him to represent the company's interests as a member of NERC's Standards Committee and in national and regional forums such as the Northwest Power Pool, the American Public Power Association, the Large Public Power Council, and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council.
In 2008, Mr. Turner moved to Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), a private utility serving customers in northern and central California. As Director of Electric Operations at PG&E, he led a team responsible for all transmission and distribution control center operations for the southern half of PG&E's system. Later, he led operations at the distribution control center for all of PG&E's 5.3 million customers. Additional duties for Mr. Turner in this position included oversight of the vegetation management group, where he was responsible for safe operation of the system and ensuring compliance with all applicable NERC, California Public Utilities Commission, and California Independent System Operator standards, procedures, and regulations.
When asked how he sees himself leading Southwestern in its mission to market and reliably deliver Federal hydropower, Turner says, "I look forward to working at Southwestern and hope to use my industry knowledge to the agency's advantage in this ever-changing environment we face today in the electric utility industry. There are some definite challenges ahead, but lots of opportunity too, and I am ready to get to work."
 |
Hydropower is one of many displays featured
at the new Dewey Short Visitor Center. |
Staff from Southwestern attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Dewey Short Visitor Center at Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri, on April 27, 2012, hosted by the Little Rock District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps).
Southwestern collaborated closely with the Corps to develop the interactive exhibit related to hydropower, to ensure that the exhibit fit into the larger story of Table Rock Dam and the history of electricity in the region.
The completed exhibit includes:
- a large cutaway of the dam showing the primary components of power generation;
- interactive touch-screen displays with photos, maps, and an agency video;
- a replica of a transmission structure;
- an authentic porcelain bushing (courtesy of the Corps);
- panels describing seasonal peak demand;
- a powerhouse control room display depicting then versus now; and
- an interactive display where visitors can manually generate electricity to power various household items.
The new visitor center is located near the old visitor center on the south end of Table Rock Dam. In addition to hydropower, the new facility features various informational displays, a 75-seat theater, a gift shop, a multi-purpose room, and a wet lab where students can learn about water quality. The new 15,000 square foot building has earned a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold Standard certification. Like its predecessor, the facility is named for former U.S. Representative Dewey Short, who was a proponent for the building of Table Rock Dam.
 |
Southwestern's Jeremy Chea and Tammy Moreno
explain the workings of a hydropower dam to
elementary students during WFEC Earth Day. |
When Western Farmers Electric Cooperative (WFEC) planned its 2012 Earth Day event, it invited Southwestern to set up an educational booth and participate. Southwestern accepted, and on April 24-25, 2012, Southwestern staff presented a brief overview of hydropower and transmission to nearly 2,000 children in grades 3-6 from schools across southwestern Oklahoma.
WFEC, a generation and transmission cooperative and customer of Southwestern, serves retail electricity users in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas, and Texas. WFEC previously sponsored Earth Day events by giving wind farm tours. This year, the event was moved indoors to accommodate increased attendance from regional schools.
The Community Building/Activity Center at the Grady County Fairgrounds in Chickasha, Oklahoma, was transformed into a one-stop educational tour featuring "green" companies as well as state and Federal agencies involved in wildlife, renewable energy, and energy conservation technologies.