BY NANCY CROCKER PHOTOS COURTESY OF EVERSOURCE
Four representatives from Eversource, the electric supplier for Eastman and much of the rest of New Hampshire, spoke during the Feb. 12 Center Presents program regarding work they are doing in the community to make power more reliable. Manager of Western NH Operations Marc St. Cyr, a 28-year veteran of Eversource, gave a history of the company’s progress in minimizing the number and duration of outages, and increasing the safety of line workers. Having gone from power plant maintenance to line work and then well up into management, he has witnessed massive changes. He reminisced about his days of free-climbing poles; while most were 40 feet tall, he once climbed one that was 100 feet. Now line repairs are done with bucket trucks, helicopters, and belayed or otherwise secured linesmen, no exceptions.
UAV inspects transmission lines
Response time to repair power outages has dropped significantly. All field workers are equipped with computer tablets; good-bye cumbersome paperwork. Troubleshooters take trucks home, and those closest to outage locations are dispatched electronically. Troubleshooters, of whom there are 28 in our region, are first and fast responders. Marc reported that those troubleshooters have been able to fix the problem 56 percent of the time; the other 44 percent require line repair and/or tree removal.
To check the lines and poles, drones are now often substituted for helicopters because they are cost-saving and can get closer to the poles and lines, Marc noted. Wooden poles are aging out, having a lifespan of 50 years. Eversource is upgrading wooden transmission poles to steel, which should last 75 years and beyond. Home meters are now automated, with a radio wave captured by driveby vehicles.
Electric system control center
Power Engineer Nate DuFord spoke about all the nifty innovations being used to upgrade Eversource’s operations in New Hampshire. Members of the audience asked about the recent $2 million Hendrik transmission line installation at Eastman’s North Entrance. Nate showed images of the trio of insulated lines with more lateral stabilizers. New devices are being installed along the lines to provide feedback to headquarters. Base station radios, smart switches, updated fuses, and self-healing switches all help decrease outages. Nate says the community’s distribution lines are nicknamed the “spider web.” Command central has a computer display of all the lines which shows the site of line malfunctions. However, more importantly, Eversource still needs to be contacted by customers when they experience outages.
NH Certified Arborist Dane D’Arcangelo discussed the preventative tree trimming that was done in 2019 in Eastman, which will be repeated every four years. Asplundh is contracted by Eversource to do tree removal and trimming. Dane describes our community as “a people living with trees,” being one of the woodsiest known areas with our level of population density.
Preparing the transmission structure
Dane encouraged us to phone if we think a tree is on or brushing a line, or threatening to do so. To report a power outage or trees on wires, contact Eversource directly at 800- 662-7764. If you haven’t already done so, visit eversource.com/ content/residential to log-in and sign up for outage updates via telephone, email and/or text message. Eversource will not remove trees on private property unless written permission by the owner is given Community Relations Specialist Connor Jennings provided information about getting a Home Energy Audit and DYI tips. Go to www.nhsaves.com for more information on increasing your energy efficiency.
During the Q&A period, some long time Eastman residents reported there has been a big improvement in electric reliability over the years. People were curious about the source of the electricity as Eversource is a transmission and distribution company and does not generate electricity. They purchase a combination of renewable, nuclear, gas and “other” generated electricity (more information at www.iso-ne.com/isoexpress/). Marc announced that Eversource is committed to being operationally carbon neutral by 2030.
Nancy Crocker and her husband, Larry, happily retired to Eastman in 2015. They believe in education for all throughout life. Nancy is a member of The Center Presents Committee.
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