Sun Valley starting late Christmas Eve and through the night into Christmas Day. But this isn't news for the 17,000 customers in Blaine County.
Some waited 27 hours for the lights to flicker on. The million-dollar question is: Why the outage and why for so long?
Idaho Power is calling the event a "perfect storm."
"This really was a 'perfect storm' of multiple events that caused the outage and its length," said Vern Porter, Idaho Power vice president of engineering and operations. "We had the ice, extreme cold temperatures and high power use in the valley impacting the lines."
The valley has no electrical generating facilities and, therefore, must rely on transporting all its power from the south by way of two 138,000-volt lines that merge at Hailey. One is the Midpoint-Wood River line starting near Shoshone and coming toward Hailey from the southeast. The other is the King-Wood River line starting near Hagerman, 80 miles southwest of Hailey.
From Hailey to the north, only one line serves Ketchum and Sun Valley.
Both lines coming into Hailey failed Christmas Eve.
The first to go was the Midpoint line from Shoshone at 9:50 p.m. "due to ice buildup in multiple locations on the line," according to Idaho Power spokesperson Stephanie McCurdy.
Porter said a few transformers also succumbed to the cold weather. The temperature in Hailey was zero degrees Fahrenheit at the time of the line's failure.
McCurdy said the company then shifted power to the King line, which starts at Hagerman and extends to Hailey. But one line isn't enough for the high electricity demand during times like Christmas Eve, according to the Wood River Electrical Plan created by Idaho Power and a community advisory committee in 2007. The plan outlines needed improvements and additions to the high-voltage transmission and substation infrastructure to address the long-term needs of Blaine County.
"The combination of these two lines can serve the most extreme peak usage in the valley at any time," said the plan. "However, the lines individually do not have the capability to serve the entire valley load at winter peak."
At 10:25 p.m., less than half an hour after the Midpoint line failed, the King line also stopped transmitting power to Hailey and, therefore, north into the Wood River Valley. The problem was somewhere between the King station north of Hagerman and the Moonstone Substation, along U.S. Highway 20 about 18 miles east of Fairfield.
At that point, not a drop of power was to be had from Shoshone to Sun Valley.
And for those relying on electricity for heat, many couldn't even drive to an electricity-supplied town to wait out the blackout, unless they had a full tank of gas. Gas station pumps weren't working either.
Rob Driemeyer, Albertsons assistant store director in Hailey, said the grocery store has a generator, but can only illuminate "barely" one third of the store's lights. The doors were opened to keep food refrigerated, but the store had to turn away car after car wanting to fill up for an exodus to Twin Falls.
"The first thing I thought of was getting gas," Driemeyer said. "Do I have enough to make it to Twin Falls?"
Plus, Driemeyer said, he only has a car charger for his cell phone.
Cox Communications still had its Internet and phone lines operational, according to Director of Operations Dan Wherry. Wherry said the system could be maintained for eight hours after a blackout. After that, 15 generators are at Cox's disposal to keep phones and Internet fully operational. And the generators were fired up in this instance.
But it may be a moot point.
Wherry said few customers have old-fashioned phones not requiring an electrical outlet.
"I don't know if they sell them anymore, quite frankly," he said.
And computers also require electricity and would be useless once the battery dies.
On Christmas Eve, Idaho Power wasn't even venturing a guess at how long the blackout would last.
McCurdy said repair crews didn't know where or what the problem was on either line.
"Finding the cause of the outage on the lines required ground patrols on snow machines and ATVs because of the combination of weather and rough, inaccessible terrain," Porter said. "When we were able to patrol by helicopter, we could only see part of it because of the fog."
The area hospital, Wood River Medical Center, can run on generator power for one week, according to hospital spokesperson Tonia Bruess. Luckily, this limit wasn't tested.
McCurdy said Idaho Power crews drove in from Twin Falls and worked throughout the night, restoring power on the Midpoint line at 10:15 a.m. on Christmas Day, a little more than 12 hours after it went down.
But power still couldn't be fully restored to all 17,000 customers until both lines were up and running.
McCurdy said some customers started receiving power, but in stages because of "higher-than-normal demand" and because the line couldn't serve all 17,000 customers. Idaho Power asked customers to be "prudent" and turn off "non-essential" things such as Christmas lights.
In a stroke of bad fortune, the lights didn't stay on long for some customers.
"There were a couple of car accidents that contributed to the situation," Porter said. "One in Hailey took out a pole and one in Elkhorn."
On the same morning that the Midpoint line was fixed, Idaho Power crews found a portion of the King line down and ice-loaded. Repairs were completed by 3:30 p.m. But, as with the Midpoint line, a second equipment failure stalled customers' getting power.
All but 2,700 customers had power by 4:30 p.m. Christmas Day.
And both lines weren't completely up and running with power restored to all customers until 1 a.m. on Dec. 26.
McCurdy said the unusually long outage will undoubtedly "spur" conversation of an additional 138,000-volt line from Hailey to Sun Valley. This suggestion was first brought up in the 2007 Wood River Electrical Plan because the solitary line now being used was built in 1962 and won't meet growing demand. Since then, the proposed transmission line has garnered much attention.
But the line between Hailey and Sun Valley never failed during the outage. The two lines feeding into Hailey from the south did—the King-Wood River built in 1962 and the Midpoint-Wood River built in 1989.
Trevon Milliard: tmilliard@mtexpress.com
Ketchum’s Pioneer Saloon drew crowds like moths to a flame Thursday night. The power went out near 10:30 p.m., and in a couple of minutes the Pioneer’s generator switched on. “Everything outside was dark,” said Manager Jim Freeman, adding that police officers were standing in Main Street with blue lights directing traffic. “Ketchum doesn’t have power, but we do.”
Photo by David N. Seelig
