By Denise Clodjeaux — Carson City area Rotarians will learn about NV Energy’s program aimed at protecting the public from the impacts of natural disasters on our electric infrastructure at the club’s next meeting.
Communications Specialist Katie Jo Collier and Meteorologist Alex Hoon with NV Energy’s Natural Disaster Protection Program will be the featured speakers at the luncheon which takes place Tuesday, April 1, at noon in the Brewery Arts Center’s Grand Ballroom, 449 West King Street. The public is invited to attend.
Collier and Hoon will explain the company’s prevention programs, including vegetation management, expanding its wildfire detection systems, and Safety Outage Management and Emergency De-Energization.
“NV Energy launched Power Safe NV in 2019 to safeguard its customers and develop a comprehensive natural disaster protection plan with the goal of creating a safer and more reliable electrical grid,” Collier explains. “The program focuses on rebuilding power lines, removing hazardous vegetation, modifying traditional operating practices, and responding to potential wildfire threats that could be caused by utility operations.”
The pair will also explain the circumstances that can create the need to turn off power, such as temperature, wind gusts, relative humidity, and vegetation dryness. Collier says they don’t take those decisions lightly.
“These Public Safety Outage Managements (PSOMs) are a last resort to prevent utility-caused wildfires. We take Public Safety Outage Management (PSOM) outages extremely seriously,” she says, adding “Although turning off the power goes against our core mission of keeping the lights on, the increasing wildfire risk and recent utility-caused wildfires in neighboring states have shifted our priority from reliability to safety.”
Anyone interested in attending should email carsoncitynvrotary@gmail.com.
Related