We noted on Monday that thousands and thousands of Kentuckians were still without electricity following the previous Friday’s major windstorms. These weren’t in the mountains of Appalachia, but in the flatter, and wealthier, parts of central and western Kentucky.
Well, guess what? It’s Wednesday evening, and while the number of customers without electricity has certainly dwindled, it hasn’t reached zero yet.
Updated: Will power be restored in Kentucky on Wednesday? Here’s what KU says
by Christopher Leach | Wednesday, March 8, 2023 | 11:24 AM EST
Power restoration efforts in Fayette County along with all of Kentucky are expected to be mostly completed by Wednesday evening, according to Daniel Lowry with LG&E and KU.
The company previously said it expected to have power restored to everyone in Lexington and Louisville by 11 p.m. Wednesday. Lowry said there will likely be some customers without power Thursday morning but most everyone affected by Friday’s major windstorm should get power back by Wednesday evening.
Lowry added that if a resident doesn’t have power by Wednesday evening, it’s because the circuit they’re on was heavily damaged from the storm, which was determined to be the third largest weather event in LG&E and KU’s in the last 20 years, according to Lowry.
According to Lowry, 760 poles were broken from the storm. LG&E and KU also received reports of 3,400 wires down due to the storm.
There’s more at the original.
I probably wouldn’t have written on this, until I saw this story from William Teach of The Pirate’s Cove:
Surprise: Government Inefficiency Slowing Up IRA Spending On Electric Lines
By William Teach | March 8, 2023 | 10:30 AM EST
Not only is the Inflation Reduction Act not reducing inflation, it’s being jammed up because government is slow. And, guess which party is represented the most in the federal and state governments?
Biden’s climate chief: ‘Delays and bottlenecks’ slowing IRA spending
U.S. President Joe Biden’s top climate advisor says the United States needs to build electricity lines at double the current pace, blaming a sluggish permitting process for delaying vital arteries for the nation’s clean energy transition.
“On average, interstate gas pipelines that require environmental impact statements are approved nearly twice as fast as transmission lines requiring the same,” John Podesta told energy executives at the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference on Monday. “We don’t have that time.” (snip)
However, when it comes to building new electricity lines and other projects, he describes a permitting process “plagued by delays and bottlenecks.”
“Plenty of delays happen at the state and local levels, and those need to be addressed. But there is plenty that we can do and must do federally,” Podesta said, adding that he and U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm are tracking the pace of more than 20 key electricity transmission projects.
There’s more at the original.
While needing government permits to restore previously existing service isn’t slowing down Kentucky Utilities and Louisville Gas and Electric, I’m old enough to remember when rural electrification was still a thing. No one needed any stinkin’ permits, just string them wires up and get ‘lectricity to the country folks!
But now, as the Biden Administration wants us to electrify our utilities, to get rid of natural gas and propane and heating oil for heating, water heating, and cooking, and to replace gasoline-and-diesel-powered vehicles with plug-in electrics, were going to need a lot more electric capacity, both in generation and transmission. Yet since the 1960s, there have been federal, state, and local regulations designed to preserve nature as much as possible, and putting up power poles and stringing more wires is going to come into conflict with all of that. You can count on thousands of lawsuits seeking to delay additional transmission wiring from the usual suspects.
Unless the new wiring is put underground, a much more expensive and time consuming process, the new wires will be just as vulnerable to severe weather as existing service. We noted in Monday’s article that it wasn’t that cold in the Bluegrass State then, but the weather changed on Tuesday. Monday’s high in the mid 70s turned into highs in the lower 50s, and freezing temperatures overnight, temperature ranges which are normal for this time of year in the Bluegrass State.
Unless there are further problems, KU and LG&E should have power restored to all customers on Thursday, but that still leaves the problem that future storms will knock out power again and again and again.