Winter 2024 Generator

Behind the Scenes:
RESTORING A POWER OUTAGE
“How long is it going to take?”
Those are familiar words to all
who work in the electric industry. It’s
the first question people have when
the lights go out. And it doesn’t take
long to realize how dependent we
are on electricity.
But what does it take to get
those lights back on? Why does it
sometimes take hours?
Most people will never witness the
behind-the-scenes work that goes
into ending outages, so we’re going
to explain the process.
BUT FIRST, THE BASICS
Your electricity travels a great
distance to your home. It all starts
with generation. The fuel can be
natural gas, diesel, coal, hydro,
wind, solar, or nuclear. A power
plant typically produces voltages of
less than 30,000 volts. That voltage
needs to be “stepped up” so it can
travel long distances. That process
starts next door in the power plant’s
substation and switchyard. In the
substation, a transformer steps up
the voltage to 345,000 volts and
sends it out on transmission lines to
another substation.
When the electricity hits the next
substation, a transformer reduces
the voltage to 34,500 volts and sends
it out to smaller local substations.
These local substations are the
final stop before the electricity
reaches your home. There, a
transformer reduces the voltage to
12,740 volts.
Just before entering your home,
yet another transformer steps down
the voltage to 120/240 volts so you
can operate all the devices that
power your life.
This scenario repeats itself
constantly throughout Loup Power
District’s territory covering more
than 2,200 square miles.
There are thousands of poles
and nearly 900 miles of distribution,
transmission, and underground lines.
While we work hard to maintain all
that infrastructure, Mother Nature
can cause a lot of problems if she
wants to.
Just like your home, our system
has breakers. They help us reduce
the exposure of the line and allow
us to split our system into sections
to reduce the amount of people
affected by outages. Breakers also
protect equipment on the line.
Ever wonder why your lights blink
a few times before going off? That’s
the breaker. It operates a few times
trying to give the fault a chance to
clear the line before opening.
THE OUTAGE BEGINS
It doesn’t take long for Loup
employees to learn about an outage.
New technology alerts us right away.
And we are also ready to respond
when bad weather threatens our
territory.
Humphrey Local Superintendent
Joe Hubenka said he usually starts
getting calls shortly after an outage.
Customers ask what happened and
how long the outage will last.
And while he wants to answer
those questions for them, there’s no
way to do so with any certainty.
“You never know until you get
there,” he said. “There’s no lineman
who has ever diagnosed something
from his home.”
HEAD TO THE OFFICE
An after-hours outage requires
line technicians to respond from
home.
After learning of an outage,
Hubenka usually heads to the
Humphrey office and calls Journey
Line Technician Jared Hoefelman to
join him.
By the time he gets to the office,
he most likely has gotten an update
from one of the Plant Operators at
the Columbus Powerhouse.
He gathers his equipment and
jumps in the truck to head to the
general area of the outage.
If it’s on the other side of his
division, the drive alone can take
more than 30 minutes.
He has an idea of where the
problem is, but he has to patrol lines
to pinpoint the exact cause of an
outage — for example, a broken pole
or a fallen tree branch.
Checking the line takes time. It’s
one of the more time-consuming
steps, but also one of the most
important parts of restoring an
outage.
Line techs can’t just flip a switch
and restore the power. That can
be dangerous for many reasons.
Re-energizing the line in certain
scenarios could be dangerous to the
public and cause more damage that
extends the outage.
“Public safety is of utmost
importance,” Hubenka said.
FIND THE PROBLEM
Once Hubenka finds the cause of
an outage, he has to get a game plan
for repair and power restoration.
Does he need any additional
equipment? Will the repair require an
aerial lift or a digger truck?
Is the repair something that can
be done safely? Or are the weather
conditions too dangerous?
Hubenka said his goal is to restore
power as quickly as possible.
But in addition to public safety,
he must consider his own safety and
that of other employees.
These safety procedures add time,
but they are vital. It’s how line techs
survive a dangerous job so they can
go home to their families.
“We have to follow our safe
practice procedures,” Hubenka said.
EXAMPLE SCENARIO
Let’s say a 50-foot oak tree fell
through a line. Even though it is
causing an outage, it only broke a
crossarm so the pole is still good. The
wire isn’t broken but is under the
tree.
Line techs have to chop the tree
and free the wire. Anyone who has
cut up a downed tree will understand
the danger. You have to be careful
and pay attention to the tree and
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