The electric power industry, including electric cooperatives across Colorado and the nation, are facing the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to deliver electricity reliably and safely, according to a report from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the nation’s grid watchdog.
Despite a heightened risk of disruption to the workforce and supply chains and new cybersecurity threats, the grid is operating effectively.
“The electric industry in North America is rising to the challenge, coordinating effectively with government partners and taking aggressive steps to confront the threat to the reliability and security of the bulk power system,” NERC said in its report. “At this time, NERC has not identified any specific threat or degradation to the realizable operation (of the grid).”
NERC attributed the industry’s preparedness in part to its longtime use of comprehensive emergency response drills, such as GridEx. Such tabletop exercises helped the power sector coordinate with key government agencies and “provided a blueprint to ensure that business continuity procedures are up to date and comprehensive,” the report states.
The central threat to the grid is loss of critical staff needed to operate and maintain the bulk power system. Since March, Colorado’s electric cooperatives and their power suppliers have worked to ensure that their systems continue to meet the needs of consumer-members.
Every local distribution co-op office moved to operating virtually so that, even with office doors closed to the general public, consumer-members could still drop off payments, call for information and access accounts online. New protocols were put in place to keep employees safe while they continued to do their jobs.
Now that co-ops are reopening their doors, new procedures are in place to maintain the health of employees and consumers — and to keep the electricity flowing as the pandemic continues.