Electricity Forum

Columbus, Neb.- - Crews from Nebraska Public Power District are assessing damage to four transmission lines that occurred recently during a storm and tornado outbreak that hit south central Nebraska.

NPPD also had one community it serves at retail lose power as a result of the storm and several NPPD wholesale customers were also impacted. NPPD is assessing damage in Sutton at the request of the city, and have sent crews to assist in restoring power to the community.

Preliminary reports indicate damage to approximately 100 structures on a 345-kV transmission line between a substation near Hallam and the McCool substation. Crews also secured the 345-kV line which was on the ground across Highway 81 and will continue to remove lines that are along other county roads.

Three 115-kV lines and structures damaged included a line from McCool to Geneva where approximately 35 structures were damaged, one structure damaged from Sutton to the Hastings Energy Center, and three structures from Davey to Wahoo. Also affected by these various lines being out were substations operated by South Central, Perennial, Seward County, and Norris Public Power Districts.

Outages to two other NPPD retail communities were also reported. One occurred in York where lightning reportedly struck an arrestor and locked out a transformer, affecting 1574 customers for approximately 39 minutes. Repairs were completed the following morning.