Wisconsin Utilities Take Action to Avoid Power Grid Failure
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Aug. 15--As he patrols Wisconsin and Upper Michigan watching for problems with the poles and wires that keep the lights on, Chris Dailey sees a patched-together electric power network that spans two centuries.
But some equipment dates back before the Great Depression -- and includes
some of the oldest power lines in the nation. Wood poles can rot, and old steel
poles must be watched for signs of rust and other wear.
Sometimes Dailey needs to use a telescope to check the weathered poles for
signs of aging. And he always uses kid gloves.
And then there are the wires.
"After many, many years, the wires can become a little bit
brittle," said Dailey, a transmission maintenance specialist for American
Transmission Co., sounding like a doctor musing about a difficult patient.
"Not to the point where they would fail on us -- but when we have to
make repairs and we're handling these wires, we have to be a little more
cautious," he said.
This weekend, America assesses the state of its power network since last
year's worst-ever U.S. blackout, which darkened homes and businesses for 50
million people from Michigan to New York and Canada on Aug. 14, 2003.
Some things have changed: Utilities across the nation are much more focused
on keeping trees trimmed near major transmission lines. Investigators cited an
Ohio utility for failing to properly trim trees, leading to three transmission
lines going out of service as the blackout began.
The Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, which along with the
Ohio utility bore much of the blame for the blackout, has upgraded its computer
and alarm systems to the point that another blackout would be less likely to
ripple into other states, says Jose Delgado, president and chief executive of
American Transmission Co.
Folks in Wisconsin ask a different question when it comes to blackouts. After
all, the lights stayed on in Wisconsin last August, even though one coal-fired
boiler at a plant in Sheboygan Falls tripped because of a sudden surge in
electrical voltage.
Seven years ago, a fragile power grid and lack of new generation built in the
last 20 years created Wisconsin's own energy wake-up call.
It was a cool summer in 1997, though not nearly as cool as this one. But a
confluence of factors, notably the untimely unavailability of nuclear plants in
Wisconsin and northern Illinois, created a nightmare scenario in the utility
control rooms.
That led to regular calls for customers to turn off their air conditioners or
lights to conserve power, as well as warnings that rotating blackouts could be
in the offing.
"We were this close," says Delgado, holding his fingers close
together, recalling the tension in control rooms and on the telephones among
various utilities in the Upper Midwest.
At the time, Delgado ran the transmission system for Wisconsin Electric, the
state's largest power company. Today, Delgado is still in the transmission
business, running American Transmission Co., the company formed by his former
employer and other utilities to own and run the transmission lines that connect
local utilities' electrical systems.
Since 1997 and with continued reliability problems in 1998, politicians,
utilities, customer groups and other stakeholders have worked together to loosen
rules for power-plant construction and approve projects aimed at shoring up the
state's aging fleet of power plants and transmission lines.
Nearly a dozen small and several large plants have opened, the largest of
which opened this summer in Beloit. And the state Public Service Commission has
given the go-ahead for $3 billion in projects proposed by the state's largest
utility, Milwaukee-based Wisconsin Energy Corp. Wisconsin Energy is building two
new natural gas-fired generators in Port Washington and hopes to start
construction next year on two new coal-fired boilers in Oak Creek.
In addition, the state last year approved construction of a controversial
220-mile power line stretching from Wausau to Duluth, Minn., at a cost of $420
million. Construction has begun on the Minnesota stretch of the line, and the
company is still negotiating with counties to cross public lands before
construction can begin in Wisconsin.
Construction of new natural gas plants and improved operation of the state's
nuclear and coal plants during the summer months have helped Wisconsin improve
its electricity reliability in recent years.
And this summer's weather has barely given the grid a test.
The Point Beach nuclear plant sustained a longer-than-usual shutdown of one
of its reactors this spring, but since that plant came online it's been running
strong. But Milwaukee has had only one day with the temperature above 90 this
year -- June 8, the same day Point Beach was just coming back online.
But the grid is still vulnerable -- any time two major power plants are shut
down on a day when temperatures hit 90 degrees, Delgado says. The Wausau-Duluth
line is designed to eliminate that problem, allowing utilities to import more
power from the west if two plants experienced problems.
But that line isn't scheduled to open for five more years -- at the earliest.
Not all the concerns about keeping the lights on in Wisconsin center on the
hottest days of the year.
The lines north of Green Bay, beginning just south of Lena and running due
north into Dickinson County, Mich., are relics that still challenge the state's
electricity reliability.
"In some cases the towers have not been replaced and the wires have not
been replaced over the years," Dailey says. "Much of it remains that's
still a 1920s design."
The line is believed to be among the oldest in the nation -- second only to
the wires set up in Niagara Falls, N.Y., home of the first power plant in 1895.
The line in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan connected early hydroelectric dams in
the Upper Peninsula to points south -- all the way to Chicago.
"It's amazing," says Dailey. Photos in his office document
construction of the original power lines through the state.
"It was some pretty crude construction techniques, with horses and
stuff," Dailey says.
Much of those early power lines were replaced as Wisconsin urbanized and
developed. In southeastern Wisconsin the line was rebuilt in the 1940s.
"But in certain areas, particularly in that northern region, the growth
has not been that huge to pursue tearing it down and rebuilding it all,"
Dailey says. "We keep it maintained."
But even that doesn't always work. On Dec. 5, just four months after the
national blackout, much of the Upper Peninsula went dark after a transmission
line linking the U.P. with northern Wisconsin failed. The six-hour blackout
affected more than 78,000 customers.
The company investigated but could never definitively determine the cause or
even the source of the power failure, Delgado says. The line's aging
infrastructure -- with steel lattice towers now at the end of their useful life
-- probably played a role.
American Transmission says the nearly 80-year-old line is now the most
vulnerable spot on the Wisconsin-Upper Michigan stretch of wires. As a result of
the December blackout and other problems in that area, American Transmission
this year expanded the list of upgrades it has planned for Upper Michigan and
Marinette and Oconto counties.
In recent weeks it has filed detailed applications with state regulators for
several projects that would replace old power lines over the next three years.
If approved, the $69 million project would begin later this year.
The work won't be easy. The power links to the U.P. are so vital that before
one line can be taken out of service, American Transmission will have to build a
temporary line alongside its aging line in some parts before it can even begin
rebuilding the old lines.
Until the lines are rebuilt, the lines challenge utilities every day. When
some lightning-protecting wires fell in early January, service to customers
wasn't disrupted. But to fix the problem, two iron ore mines in the Upper
Peninsula -- the largest employer and biggest electric customer in northern
Michigan -- had to lose their power before the work could begin.
THE BLACKOUT
--The cause: Joint U.S.-Canadian task force blamed disregard for voluntary
rules to ensure the flow of electricity, particularly by Ohio-based
FirstEnergyCorp. and Midwest grid monitors for not having the capability to
adequately monitor the grid and for not helping FirstEnergy.
--The cost: It was the worst blackout in the nation's history, costing at
least $6 billion in economic and other losses and affecting an area populated by
50 million people.
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