What’s Involved in Outage Restoration?

It’s winter in Lane County, which means rainy, windy conditions that can lead to intermittent power outages. We often talk about what we do to prevent outages and what you can do to be prepared.

Here’s an example of how we go about restoration and what makes it so complex.

• 9 p.m. Wednesday Night: Members report an outage to Lane Electric’s after-hours call center and via SmartHub. Dispatch begins assessment.
• 9:30 p.m. Based on system reports and location, one of the cooperative’s three service technicians heads out to evaluate the cause. Once on-site, they will work through problem-solving. When no immediate cause is found, extended power line patrols begin.
• 10 p.m. If the outage cause is not clear upon initial assessment and determined to be a line-related issue, the serviceman starts line patrols. This could be less than a mile or many miles.
  Power distribution includes overhead and underground lines and runs through neighborhoods, backyards, heavily forested land, and more. This challenging terrain is often complicated by darkness and difficult weather conditions.
  The serviceman determines the cause of the outage. Lines are down from a tree outside the co-op’s right-of-way.
• 12 a.m. Repair work begins. Because additional equipment and manpower are needed, the serviceman calls for support. This requires crew call-downs and travel time to get the necessary equipment and report to the site. This can take more than an hour depending on the materials required, the location of responding crew members, and the area of the outage.
  The team assesses the safest and quickest way to restore the outage. If the replacement of multiple cross arms or broken poles or the repair of underground cable is required, the work could take several hours.
• 2 a.m. Equipment is determined to be safe to energize after repair. Power is restored.

Find out how Lane Electric works to increase reliability and resilience, and improve system technologies through capital projects.