Company Incidents Flashcards
Jodie Lane
2004 Jodie Lane Fatality
• Jodie Lane (a 30 year old Ph.D. student studying at Columbia University) was walking her two dogs on East 11th St. She made contact with an electrified service box (57 volts) and was electrocuted and died.
• Cause: A 120V shunt cable in the service box was not properly insulated (the insulation had deteriorated or fallen off)
• Effect on company: Over the next two months, Con Ed tested all of its electric system underground structures. Con Ed committed $9.6M to fund two stray voltage detection programs using a newly developed mobile electric stray voltage detector
Ukraine Cyberattack
- In 2015, a cyber attack was coordinated against 3 utilities in Ukraine. They took control of the utilties’ SCADA systems and removed critical substations from service (opened circuit breakers) which caused an outage for over 230k people for several hours.
- This is the first known successful cyberattack on a power grid.
- This attack began with phishing.
Plymouth St.
2017 Plymouth Street Breaker Event
• On September 17th, 2017, two 138kV feeders and adjacent bus sections at Plymouth Street Substation opened automatically. The loss of these bus sections put the Borough Hall network into 8th contingency and interrupted service to many customers including MTA A, C, and F lines.
o No injuries, but potential for injury if anyone had been near that slow breaker, which physically ejected from the cubicle and had arcing
• Fault originated on a feeder in a manhole near the Plymouth St. Area Substation, but a breaker in the substation was slow to open (slower than specification), which led to unnecessary isolation and equipment damage.
• Effect: Con Ed reviewed all similar breakers and ultimately corrected 145 breakers (out of more than 3,200) that were also out of specification. Renewed focus on rigorous procedural adherence.
Puerto Rico Mutual Assistance
• On September 20th, 2017, Hurricane Mario caused catastrophic damage to Puerto Rico’s electric infrastructure, resulting in loss of over 1.5 million electric customers. Took over 320 days to fully restore power.
• Con Edison was the first utility to respond to Puerto Rico (mid-November) that wasn’t working for the Army Corp of Engineers.
• The New York State Contingent (led by Con Edison and New York Power Authority) was responsible for over 24% of the Puerto Rico restoration.
o Cost of $130 million for Con Ed
o No Con Ed injuries
Superstorm Sandy
2012 Superstorm Sandy
• October 29th, 2012. Most damaging storm event in company history, left more than 1 million Con Ed customers without power, 4,200 gas customers experienced outages.
o Restored 50% of customers by November 2nd, 90% back after 8 days.
o Approximately 8.5 million customers throughout the eastern US lost power during Sandy.
o Powerful winds up to 90 miles per hour brought down trees and power lines, 14-foot storm tide caused floods.
o 14 Manhattan networks, 1 Brooklyn network, 3 Staten Island area substations shutdown.
• Storm hardening/flood protection (pre-existing)
o Con Ed enhanced flood protection following 1992 Nor’easter: relocated critical equipment to higher elevations, upgraded flood protection pumps, installed flood gates/moats
o Since 2006, Con Ed trimmed trees and managed vegetation more aggressively
o New protocols for installation of underground equipment in flood zones (after Hurricane Katrina): new transformers/network-protectors at or below sidewalk level must be submersible. Otherwise, it must be installed above flood level (second floor or above)
• Findings: 2013, Con Ed submitted rate proposal with $1 billion investments to protect customers from devastating storms
Dunwoodie
2009 Dunwoodie
• Load Tap Changer (LTC) leads of the Dunwoodie 345-138kV autotransformer failed. This caused an explosion (propelled some of bank’s steel/porcelain components into surrounding substation area) and fire. The transformer’s fire protection was inoperable because of damage to dc supply and Yonkers Fire Department responded to fire.
• The transformer is located in a concrete moat. An oil water separator (OWS) separates oil from water that collects in the moat: water is discharged while oil remains in the moat. Prior to the event, the OWS was not functional, and remained open/not working.
o About 15,000 gallons of dielectric fluid were released into the environment, some of which discharged directly into Bronx River.
• Penalties: Con Edison liable to pay civil penalty of nearly $800,000 ($793,750)
• Corrective actions:
o A new transformer was installed in 2011
o The existing transformer foundation was cleaned and expanded to accommodate the new bank
o The OWS valve, and associated electronic system were replaced
o A committee was formed with representatives from Engineering, Operations, and Environmental top evaluate conditions at Substation facilities and consider future upgrades (focused on fire protection and oil/water separation).
Evaluated 32 station locations
o A new OWS will be installed at Dunwoodie & Sprainbrook substations. As of November 2011, these OWS’s are being designed
Floral Park
2009 Floral Park Gas Event
• On April 24th, 2009, residents reported a partial electric outage and outside gas odor to Con Edison. GDS mechanics arrived and detected gas readings in subsurface structures and high readings near electric service box. Additional Con Ed crews arrived and were in the process of removing the service box cover to allow the structure to vent when a house across the street exploded into flames.
o One fatality, several injuries, property damage
East Harlem
• An explosion and resulting collapse destroyed 2 buildings on Park Avenue.
o 8 people died, 50+ injuries
• Cause
o A long-standing sewer leak eroded the soil beneath the gas main. As a result, the service tee cracked causing a gas leak which resulted in the explosion
o Further investigation showed that the contractors who performed the plastic fusion had a lapsed qualification.
• Effects:
o $153 M settlement
o Comprehensive and integrated multi-lingual “SMELL GAS ACT FAST” campaign
o Monthly patrols of gas mains
o AMI-enabled Natural Gas Detector (NGD) pilot programs
o Improved emergency response procedures with FDNY
o Improved leak response and made safe times
