This past weekend, while Albertans were changing their clocks to fall back for the end of Daylight Savings Time, AltaLink crews from across the province were working to keep the lights and the clocks on.
Cold temperatures and humidity wreaked havoc on AltaLink’s transmission system affecting lines from Lacombe to Black Diamond between October 29 and November 4. The culprit was ice that built up on our facilities and caused damage to shield wires and one conductor.
An Emergency Response Plan (ERP) Level 1 was issued on Saturday, after a week of ice, fog and freezing rain caused circuit trips on our system. “Crews were already repairing damage to our transmission lines from earlier in the week when our AltaLink Control Centre (ACC) Operators were alerted to new problems on the system,” said Irv Paulson, System Operation Special Projects.
Over the course of the weekend, 600 kilometres of transmission line were patrolled and crews from the south and the north were dispatched to complete repairs on nine lines that sustained damage as a result of the ice.
After a weekend full of hard work, normal operation was restored at 6:30 p.m. Sunday night. “Thanks to everyone involved in repairing the damage to our system over the weekend,” said Dennis Frehlich, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer. “Our people did a great job keeping the lights on while the majority of Albertans were unaware of the challenges the weather created on our facilities.”
Thanks to Irv Paulson, Darin McMaster, Darryl Rempel, Dana Cormier, Paul Evernden, Sandy Cardinal, Andy Shaw, Steve Murdoch, Kord Gardner, Ryan Vanderwolf, Paul Hill, Eric Cowger, Alfredo Garrido, Brennan Marshall, Mark Morin, Rene Corbiere, Sylvain Verville, Eldon Kliachik, Cody Macklem, Kyle Straatsma, Lee Nyall, Jeff Ainsworth and Brian Petit; Leanne Niblock and Amber Kalyn in Communications; and the hard workers in the ACC Zenon Price, Vu Ta, Warren Bailey, Ken Simpson and Kendall Till.
