BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC | Two years after Superstorm Sandy, Con Edison said it has implemented protective measures for its steam and electrical systems to help keep the electricity on for more people and restore steam service more quickly during disaster-level storms.
When Sandy hit in October 2012, Con Ed said the amount of outages was unprecedented in the company’s history. More than 200,000 Manhattan residents and businesses south of Midtown were without electricity and steam service.
For the electrical system, Con Ed will be able to split networks, explained Greg Koumoullos, the utility’s project manager for electrical systems, at Community Board 1’s Planning Committee meeting on Oct. 6. This means certain parts of the electrical grid can be shut off while others remain on.
“If a flood comes again and the water comes in, we can actually disconnect the network, split it in half, so the areas that we expect to be dry can remain in power, while the areas expected to be flooded underwater can go out of power,” said Koumoullos. Right now the switches are manual, but Koumoullos said that by this coming summer, the switches will be automated. With automation the company can wait until the last possible moment until a storm surge comes, then split the network.
In addition, Con Ed is also making some of its equipment submersible.
“In the event that it does flood, the equipment that is underwater will not be damaged,” Koumoullos said.
After Sandy hit, equipment that was inundated with water had to be replaced or repaired before it could be utilized again, adding more time to restoring power. By making equipment submersible, if a storm hits, after the water recedes, the equipment would need to be dried out but would then be operational again, Koumoullos said.
The submersible transformers and installations have been developed fairly recently, and Koumoullos said that both the manufacturers and Con Ed have tested them.
Protective measures have also been enacted for the steam system, which is crucial for heating. During Sandy, a significant portion of the system lost steam service, said Frank Cuomo, project manager of Con Ed’s steam distribution group.
Steam is very sensitive, Cuomo said, and water is the worst thing to mix with it. The steam system has to be turned on in a specific geographic order — sections cannot be skipped — which was one of the reasons Lower Manhattan below Canal St. was one of the last to be turned back on, he said.
C.B. 1 committee members remarked on the amount of time — 10 days — that it took after the electricity returned for the steam to come back on. Cuomo said the company is working to reduce the outage time.
“It doesn’t have to make its way from Grand St., like it did during Sandy, pipe by pipe by pipe,” Cuomo said.
Isolation valves will also be installed at Trinity Place. Cuomo said, with the isolation valves, 137 buildings that went without steam during Sandy, would have stayed in service.
The East River station, the company’s highest-capacity station, is critical to get up and running after a storm surge, Cuomo said. During Sandy, equipment had to be dried and sent out for repairs. Now, there are new, higher walls in place, as well as other protective measures, and the station could come back online as soon as the water receded.
