National Grid – In the Merrimack Valley, we have about 119,000 customers out from Wednesday night’s
Nor’Easter that impacted more than 306,000 of our Massachusetts customers at peak. At this time Billerica is at 57% customers without power.
- We have set a global estimated time of restoration – the time we expect the last customer to be
restored – for midnight Sunday. As we continue to make significant progress with damage
assessment and repairs, we will refine this general estimate. We offer this global ETR so
customers may prepare for a worst-case scenario. We are making every effort to bring back
customers sooner
Our Progress
- We have more than 300 crews in the Merrimack Valley, which includes 50 crews that were shifted to the area Friday morning. The full complement of crews that was deployed to respond to Riley was reallocated for Quinn, largely in the Merrimack Valley.
- Last night, we had 157,000 Merrimack Valley customers out; we reduced this to 119,000 this morning – bringing back nearly 40,000 customers.
- We have helicopters in the air patrolling our sub-transmission lines. These are circuits that feed our distribution system: they’re the middle-men between transmission and the lines that feed our customers’ homes.
- Of the 29 23kV (sub-transmission – which feeds distribution) lines that were out of service, 13 have been restored, and the remaining 16 will be restored by midnight tonight. As we continue to target these sub-transmission circuits and the associated distribution lines, we will begin making steady progress to bring back significant numbers of customers.
- We began restoration of sub-transmission Thursday night, restoring 13 of the 29 impacted lines.
- Of the 14 substations originally without power, we have restored 11.
- 1 municipal (Merrimac) is still out. To be restored by early afternoon
- East Boxford sub to be restored by 4 pm
- West Chelmsford is still out – later today
Our Challenge
- Approximately 59,000 of these 119,000 customers are out due to sub-transmission issues; the remaining 55k customer outages are due to small outages/side taps, transformers, single customer outages.
- There is a significant amount of work coordination required to safely restore customers, and restoration is complex. First, at least one sub-transmission line supplying each distribution substation must be restored. Sub-transmission lines are located on rights-of-ways – off-road, in wooded and remote areas, and sometimes on easements along private property. To identify damage, patrolling is required, using either helicopters or ground patrol with specially trained resources using snow cats and off-road vehicles.
- We were unable, for safety reasons, to fly helicopters yesterday.
Winter Storm Quinn Preparation
- National Grid started planning for Winter Storm Quinn Monday March 5 even as we were in the
midst of restoration efforts for Riley.- Monday, March 5 – Began formulating plans for Quinn.
- Tuesday March 6 – Started Quinn implementation.
- Wednesday, March 7 – Deployed resources for Quinn.
- Thursday, March 8 – Assessing impacts from Quinn.
- Based on the storm’s forecast and development, we planned for a Type 4 event. Our emergency response plan guidelines, as established by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, sets an expectation for a 24-hour restoration phase from the first day we may safely restorepower. We quickly shifted to a Type 3 event during the middle of the storm, planning for a 72- hour restoration period. We had all crews available from Winter Storm Riley.
- Our branch directors, who lead local responses, instituted the zone approach. This involves predeploying resources to the field in the areas predicted to feel the biggest impact. This plan utilizes liaisons to communicate with key public safety officials (“zone leaders”) in our municipalities, who help coordinate between the city/town and our National Grid municipal rooms.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean to be “assessing conditions?”
At the start of a storm or outage, ETRs are often listed as “assessing conditions.” This is because the damage to our infrastructure must be assessed and reported prior to any restoration taking place. Safety is also a first priority, and crews will not begin restoring power until the conditions are safe to do. During this time, 911 and downed power line calls are also the priority. Though we were able to work on some restoration yesterday, the first day of the storm impacts, we were primarily in public safety mode. This morning, for example, we were still handling more than 500 priority 2 and 3s, which include but are
not limited to road clearing, equipment hindering road access, and wires down. Utilities are first responders for all wires down calls.
I don’t see any crew in my area. Why?
Our electrical distribution system does not recognize town lines. The electricity source on which we may be working might not be in your town. Not every town has a supply line in their community. Crews may also be in rights-of-way, off-road areas on sub-transmission lines that feed our distribution systems. The Merrimack Valley’s sub-transmission lines were majorly impacted in this storm, and that is where most of our work yesterday and today is getting done.
Your crews are idling in parking lots and don’t appear to be doing any work. Why?
Coordination is key to our storm response. Our crews follow specific, targeted guidance to make their
response most efficient. There are a variety of reasons you may see crews idling, including:
- They could be awaiting authorization for work that needs to be completed before it is safe for them to re-energize an area, and are on stand-by to be ready as soon as needed.
- They could have just cleared one call, and are awaiting orders for their next.
- Often we stage crews in parking lots near outages as supervisors assess what they need to restore. The supervisor will survey the area and returns to crews with information. There are many places crews seek to stage while safely awaiting further instruction.
