BPA responds to widespread weather-related outages

On Dec. 17, Bonneville Power Administration field crews responded to widespread, weather-related outages within its service territory.

The previous night, the Northwest region experienced a strong cold front and subsequent windstorm. Cold, dense air collided with warmer, average air resulting in widespread, gusty winds that affected regional transmission infrastructure.

“Our system took some big hits," said John Lahti, vice president of Transmission Services. “Our crews worked tirelessly through tough conditions to safely restore reliable transmission service to impacted communities."

BPA experienced over 40 outages in its service territory, and coordinated repair efforts with impacted local utilities across the region with a heightened focus on outages impacting communities along Oregon's northern coast and southwestern Washington.

“I am proud of our team's quick and adept response," said Rob Robertsen, Transmission Operations and Maintenance manager. “More importantly, I am proud of how our team worked together to complete this critical work safely and injury free."

To enable as many resources and crews as possible to this event, BPA suspended all non-critical, life-safety related maintenance outages across its service territory. Lines taken out of service for routine maintenance were re-energized to ensure transmission capacity and availability to reroute power as needed.

Additionally, BPA provided mutual assistance aid to Flathead Electric Cooperative who saw significant impacts across their service territory.

Within 48 hours, Transmission Field Services had restored power to most impacted lines, with a few remaining outages concentrated in Olympia, Washington and Salem and Eugene, Oregon.

“From the initial response from transmission system dispatchers to field crews with boots on the ground – it takes everyone at BPA to respond to emergencies like this," Richard Bustamante, vice president of Transmission System Operations, said. “Our workforce's response was an amazing display of expertise and efficiency."