DOE Report Sums Up Hurricane Sandy’s Energy-Related Toll

This morning, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery & Energy Reliability issued a “situation report” summarizing Hurricane Sandy-related outages, plant shutdowns, and the like. Here are a few of the mostly grim highlights:

·      As of 9:00 am this morning, more than 8 million customers in 17 states plus the District of Columbia were without power. New Jersey residents have been by far the hardest hit, with nearly 2.5 million customers—62 percent of the state—having no electricity.

·      Three of the region's nuclear units—PSEG Nuclear’s Salem Unit 1 in southern New Jersey, Entergy Nuclear’s Indian Point Unit 3 in New York, and Constellation’s Nine Mile Unit 1 near Oswego, N.Y.—were shut down.

·     Two other nuclear plants—Exelon’s Limerick Unit 1 near Philadelphia and Dominion Resources’ Millstone nuclear Unit 3 near New London, Conn.—had their power reduced. The cause in each case was different. For example, Salem I’s shutdown was triggered by four of the station’s six circulating water pumps, which rely on Delaware Bay/River water, being unavailable due to Sandy.

·      Two oil refineries lost power: the Phillips 66 Bayway refinery in Linden, N.J.—the second-largest refinery on the East Coast—and the Hess refinery in Port Reading, N.J. Both had been shut down ahead of the storm, and as of Tuesday remained offline and without power. Four others, including the largest, Philadelphia Energy Solutions’ 330 000 barrel-a-day refinery, were operating at reduced levels.

·      Utility companies across the affected area have collectively mobilized tens of thousands of out-of-state workers and contractors. 

PHOTO: Betty Flowers. Taken on 29 October near the Wachapreague Marina in Virginia.