ITC MIDWEST TEAM EFFORT RESTORES SIGNIFICANT TRANSMISSION DAMAGE FOLLOWING DERECHO
A powerful derecho caused severe damage across the heart of the ITC Midwest service footprint midday on August 10. The magnitude of the property damage cannot be overstated. ITC Midwest’s largest load center – the Cedar Rapids metropolitan area – took a direct hit with extensive damage to homes, businesses and trees across the area. In addition, all ITC Midwest Cedar Rapids employees suffered residential electric and internet connectivity outages, and employees across the state experienced limited or no cell phone service as cell towers were impacted. This occurred at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic caused its own obstacles. Yet employees rose to the challenge of helping with ITC Midwest’s swift efforts to restore the transmission system.
ITC’s Emergency Operations Center was immediately activated, and the work began to assess damage to the system and prioritize the responses. Wheels started turning to move hundreds of semi-loads of materials, as well as an army of utility workers from across the country. Within a short time, workers from ULCS and outside contractors, all supported by ITC field supervisors, engineers, supply chain team and other employees, were working 24/7 to restore the power. ITC set out on a plan to restore electric service to the substations and the distribution companies by restoring priority lines and through switching service onto the repaired and working transmission lines, allowing service to be restored at a record pace.
Just after noon on Tuesday, August 18 – just eight days after the massive storm hit –ITC Midwest restored the last of the lines and circuits needed to provide service to ITC Midwest distribution customers. Thanks to the hard work of our utility crews, ITC Midwest delivered on its commitment to safely restore the transmission system by Tuesday night.Within another week, all except three lines of the 145 initially out of service had been repaired. By September 11, all of these lines had been rebuilt and placed in service, helping to ensure system resiliency and reliability. ITC Midwest also worked closely with Alliant Energy, CIPCO and the affected rural electric cooperatives and municipal utilities to help them get power restored to their customers.
By working in close coordination with the utilities we serve, the ITC Midwest team safely restored transmission service in a time frame that initially seemed impossible to achieve given the severity of the damage.