All Three Cables Damaged
Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative (CHEC) continues restoration efforts in the wake of a transmission outage that was caused when PCL Construction accidently drove a steel casing into CHEC’s underground transmission cable on Thursday morning, July 27 at Oregon Inlet.
As a result of the transmission outage, mandatory evacuation remains in effect for all visitors to Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands. Both CHEC and Tideland EMC will continue to supply temporary power to residents on their respective islands via diesel generators.
PCL Construction, CHEC and New River Construction, CHEC's transmission contractor, excavated the site of the incident. CHEC’s transmission system is three-phase, meaning there are three individual cables buried on the south side of the bridge. Crews have exposed one of the cables, revealing that it was severed by the steel casing.
The cooperative ran tests to check the integrity of other two cables Saturday night and the testing data was analyzed overnight. The test revealed that all three transmission cables have been compromised.
CHEC has called in additional resources to further assess the situation. CHEC has multiple options for both temporary and permanent repair solutions.
CHEC and Tideland EMC appreciate the continued support of officials from local and state agencies, including Governor Cooper’s office. We also appreciate the continued patience and encouragement from both our members and visitors.
GENERATION & DISTRIBUTION UPDATE SPECIFIC TO OCRACOKE OPERATIONS
Power is currently being provided on Ocracoke Island via 3 emergency mobile generators that arrived on the island between Thursday, July 27 and Friday, July 28. We are thankful to several large facilities on the island that have agreed to remain on their privately owned generators to help alleviate the utility load.
The occasional maintenance outage is to be expected from time to time but our goal is to keep them brief. At this time we are not operating on a rotating service schedule and all circuits are energized.
There are three circuits on the island. Descriptions are below but note some landmark locations may be operating on their own private generators and are listed for geographical marking purposes only:
The South Circuit serves 274 meters in the vicinity of the lighthouse (this circuit is being serviced by a 1-megawatt generator)
The Northwest Circuit serves 419 meters including Howards Pub, Gaffers, Fire Station, Variety Store, Anchorage, Jolly Roger, Water Plant, Fish House, NCCAT, Howard St., South Ferry Terminal and British Cemetary areas. (this circuit is being serviced by a 2-megawatt generator)
The Northeast Circuit serves 620 meters including Ocracoke School, Health Clinic, Flying Melon, Sunset Drive, Pony Island, Oyster Creek and Jackson Dunes. (this circuit is being serviced by a 2-megawatt generator)
The success of operating the island on generator power depends entirely on residents and visitors observing the strictest conservation habits possible.
There is a mandatory evacuation order for visitors to Ocracoke island and no one will be allowed on the island unless they can prove residency. If you have not done so we highly encourage you to sign up for outage text or email messaging. If you are a visitor to the island simply text TEMC to short code 85700 and then when prompted for an account number text the word Ocracoke and we'll assign you to the Ocracoke substation group so you will receive island updates.
