James January-February 2025 web - Flipbook - Page 68
get to work, and waiting for power to
be restored for their families.
SYSTEMS, PLANNING & RESOLVE
Throughout this process, I have
been reminded that challenges of this
magnitude are met not just with muscle but with innovation, preparation
and partnership. Helene tested our
systems, our planning and our resolve.
But I can confidently say that Georgia
Power rose to meet this challenge.
As Helene crossed into South
Georgia, blanketing the state with torrential rain and battering southern and
eastern parts of the state, more than
a million Georgia Power customers
across our service territory lost power.
In some of the state’s hardest-hit
areas, nearly 100 percent of customers experienced extended outages
as infrastructure was almost entirely
destroyed. But, as they do in every catastrophic event, our crews responded
quickly, as soon as it was safe to do so,
confronting historic destruction with
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grit and resolve and restoring power
to more than 95 percent of affected
customers within a week of the storm.
Typically, after a storm of this
magnitude, our focus is on restoration-bringing power back safely and as
quickly as possible. But the sheer force
of Helene has required more than
restoration; parts of our grid in the
hardest hit areas essentially needed
to be completely rebuilt. And while
permanent rebuilding is ongoing, I
am proud of the tireless efforts of our
teams to restore service to our customers in record time.
In addition to the work of our
teams, a large part of our successful
response to Helene is due to ongoing
preparation and strategic investments
in smart grid technology and grid resiliency. These investments— more than
$10 billion over the last decade— have
been made through detailed planning
and analysis, and with the review and
approval of the Georgia Public Service
Commission (PSC).
During the height of the storm,
these advanced systems and automated devices prevented sustained
outages for thousands of customers,
automatically rerouting power around
trouble areas and helping avoid
thousands of hours of outage time for
storm-ravaged homes, families, and
businesses in some of the less-affected
areas of the state such as metro Atlanta and north Georgia. This enabled
crews to quickly repair major problems
and refocus their efforts on Helene’s
hardest-hit communities. An achievement like this is no coincidence; it is
the result of years of deliberate planning and investment.
More than 1,000 automated
devices were added to the grid in
2023 alone. These devices allow us to
monitor, diagnose and reroute power
remotely— often without customers
even noticing a n interruption in service. Additionally, tens of thousands
of power poles have been upgraded,
and hundreds of miles of lines have
