28 utilities join RESTORE program to boost grid resilience, reliability
The RESTORE program – for Regional Equipment Sharing for Transmission Outage Restoration – was founded in 2016 by Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities, PPL Electric Utilities, Tennessee Valley Authority and Southern Company.
The program seeks to address the threats outlined earlier this year in the Department of Energy’s Strategic Transformer Reserve Report to Congress that highlighted how damage to or attacks on transformers could severely disrupt the nation’s electrical grid. The program also comes as utilities in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico grapple with widespread and devastating infrastructure damage in the wake of three massive hurricanes.
The participants of the program agree to identify and share spare transformers and other transmission equipment. In the event of a major disaster, that equipment would be available to participants for purchase.
“Utility cooperation and the ability to call on additional resources play a critical role during times of natural disasters and other emergencies that can impact our electric transmission system,” John Lucas, chair of RESTORE’s operating committee and Southern Company general manager of transmission policy and services, said in a statement….
