Southern Co. deploys additional personnel, equipment to restore PR power
Alabama Power trucks arrived by barge in Puerto Rico several days ahead of crews. who will work over the next 45 days to restore outages throughout the island.
Atlanta-based Southern Company announced that lineworkers and support staff from each of Southern Company’s four electric operating companies — Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power and Mississippi Power — were deployed to Puerto Rico over the weekend.
Personnel will help restore power “safely and as quickly as possible to areas impacted by Hurricane María as part of an industry mutual assistance effort coordinated through the Edison Electric Institute.”
As part of this effort, on Wednesday, Jan. 3rd, Southern Company launched a barge from the Port of Chickasaw in Mobile, Alabama, filled with trucks, tools and support equipment. That vessel arrived in Puerto Rico on Jan. 15 for those supplies to be ready for the additional lineworkers and staff.
“Southern Company is proud to increase our assistance to the citizens of Puerto Rico,” said CEO Thomas A. Fanning. “In the face of this enormous challenge, our employees are dedicated to the effort and determined to restore and repair Puerto Rico’s energy grid.”
Southern Company system lineworkers and staff will work under the direction of the 10-person Incident Management Team (IMT) Southern Company deployed in early December to support Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s (PREPA) regional directors.
That Southern Company IMT is one of seven such teams assigned to seven regions of Puerto Rico under coordination with PREPA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The new wave of personnel will join the IMT in continued support of restoration in the Mayaguez region on the western side of Puerto Rico.
In addition to the IMT, Southern Company’s Puerto Rico response includes 400 personnel from another Southern Company subsidiary, PowerSecure, Inc., who have been working in Puerto Rico since October under a contract with the USACE.
The Southern Company system has been steadily involved in restoration efforts including; damage assessment, clearing debris, resetting poles, mobilizing equipment, providing temporary emergency power, ensuring adequate generation at power plants, and reinstalling and repairing transmission and distribution lines.
With this new wave of personnel, the total number of restoration workers in Puerto Rico will increase to more than 5,500. This includes crews such as those with PowerSecure mobilized under USACE contracts, PREPA’s own resources, industry mutual assistance crews and others.
