CHARLESTON, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Severe weather in mid-May brought wind gusts of up to 50 mph across Appalachian Power’s service areas, leaving tens of thousands without electricity. But thanks to new technologies and proactive tree maintenance, the damage could have been much worse.
At the storm’s peak, 38,000 customers lost power across portions of West Virginia, Virginia, and Tennessee. Yet utility officials say that figure was significantly reduced by Distribution Automation Circuit Reconfiguration (DACR)technology and a robust vegetation management program.
“Certain things, such as a windstorm, are out of our control,” said Jeff Maynor, Appalachian Power’s Director of Reliability. “But we’re investing in technology to lessen the impact on our customers.”
Smart Grid in Action
DACR technology helps prevent widespread outages by quickly identifying fault locations and automatically rerouting power to unaffected lines. Installed on nearly 200 electric circuits since 2018, DACR allowed hundreds of customers to avoid service interruptions during last weekend’s storm.
“This system detects an outage and restores service automatically by switching customers to another power feed—no action required by the customer,” Maynor explained.
Targeted Tree Trimming Pays Off
In addition to smart grid tech, tree-related outages—the leading cause of year-round power disruptions—were minimized thanks to Appalachian Power’s aggressive vegetation management program.
“Strong winds and ice can bring down even healthy trees, but we’re especially focused on removing diseased or high-risk trees that are more likely to fail,” said Jay Singleton, Region Support Manager over APCo’s forestry group.
Each year, Appalachian Power clears over 6,000 miles of right-of-way. The utility uses aerial saws, remote mowers, and mechanical trimmers to maintain access, even in hard-to-reach areas. The company also works with property owners to trim or remove dangerous trees outside of its traditional right-of-way zones.
“Our foresters study outage history and reliability data to identify areas that pose the greatest risk,” Singleton added. “We appreciate our customers’ cooperation as we work to strengthen the electric grid.”
