Getting the Lights Back On

When Red River Valley Co-op Power experiences multiple power outages, its goal is to restore service to the greatest number of consumers in the shortest amount of time. Linemen begin at the power source and work their way out to the individual services. Dangerous problems, such as downed power lines, are repaired as soon as possible.

The substation is the first location the repair crew checks. A substation is the power source for a particular geographic area. Sometimes service to these customers can be restored immediately by replacing a fuse on the substation transformer or switching the feed and isolating the damaged line.

Linemen then work their way out on the main distribution line, restoring service to the main feeder lines, then lines serving groups of homes and finally, individual consumers. Fixing the power at an individual home first is useless if the main line is dead - no electricity would flow into the home anyway. By repairing the main line first, many more people would have their power restored.

The diagram above shows that Step 1 sould be repairing the main distribution line from the substation. Since there is no additional damage leading to buildings A or B, this would automatically restore their power. In Step 2, the problem with the tap line leading off the main line would be cleared up. This would restore power to buildings C & D.

After the high voltage lines are repaired, power to individual members (house E in the diagram) would be restored (Step 3). The entire system would then be in good working order.