Iberdrola, through Avangrid, its subsidiary in the United States and its subsidiaries in Maine, Connecticut and New York, has developed a special device to provide power to those affected by Hurricane Lee.
The company’s health and safety teams deployed resources in Maine and held safety briefings for operations teams in advance of recovery efforts, the electric company detailed.
Technology teams (IT and Operations) have worked to increase system resiliency and have completed four of the five requested communications reinforcements.
For their part, the general service teams have also been active in preparing Avangrid facilities, generators and the entire fleet to support the recovery activities.
“Emergency response is one of the most important ways we support our customers and communities,” said Pedro Azagra, CEO of Avangrid.
“With operations in multiple states, our Emergency Management Division facilitates collaboration between our diverse teams. A multi-state resource network is a huge advantage for us when responding to severe weather because it provides flexibility so we can quickly adapt to the situation,” he said.
He has also indicated that teams will be willing to travel to New York, Maine or Connecticut to support relief efforts.
Each Avangrid subsidiary has unique contingency plans that outline the priorities and actions the company will take to address critical situations in its service areas.
This week, Avangrid’s storm preparation teams analyzed the latest forecasts, prepared additional resources for lines and trees, and activated company personnel for storm operations.
Central Maine Power (Maine) has prepared for a Level 2 event. It has thus secured 487 management teams, 322 vegetation teams and 80 excavation teams. As of Friday evening, external support teams were called in and ready for action.
In addition, CMP has checked supply inventories and set up coordination centers for repair work.
The CMP and corporate communications teams continue to implement the communications plan by sending standby messages to all external stakeholders and customers.
For its part, United Illuminating (Connecticut) has prepared for Level 5. Therefore, UI (Avangrid) has continuously monitored and hired external resources to prepare for possible impacts.
Given the forecast, UI has lowered the preparedness level from Level 4 to a moderate Level 5 for Friday evening and to Level 5 at 6 a.m. Saturday.
Nevertheless, UI is sticking to mobilizing 100 soldiers for online emergencies and has ruled out deploying troops to assess damage for the time being.
New York State Electric & Gas and Rochester Gas and Electric (RG&E) have also prepared. Today, New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) and Rochester Gas and Electric (RG&E), subsidiaries of Avangrid, mobilized 95 contractor personnel for line emergencies between Mechanicville and Brewster.
In addition, 75 contract staff and 100 internal staff were active for possible deployment to CMP/UI on Saturday morning.
In addition, the companies have mobilized 35 teams of vegetation specialists to Maine to support restoration efforts.
Lee is expected to continue to weaken over the next few hours as it moves through the cold waters of Canada’s Atlantic coast until it becomes an Atlantic storm.
