Day 4 without power: More crews coming to help fix 600 broken poles - KVLY
Day 4 without power: More crews coming to help fix 600 broken poles
FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - Thousands of customers in the valley are still without power, and some can expect that to last through the weekend or even longer.
Crews with Cass County Electric Cooperative have been repairing downed poles and lines for four days now. The co-op now estimates 600 broken power poles, and says that number will likely rise as they continue assessments.
Outages include Cass, Barnes, Stutsman, Richland, and Sargent counties. You can get the most up-to-date information by clicking here.
Some good news: All substations now have power and about 20-percent of Cass County Electric accounts have been restored since Wednesday. Twelve additional line-workers are arriving on Thursday to help.
Line-workers say the weather forecast looks favorable, with no precipitation, low winds, and mild temperatures for the next few days.
The power companies say safety is their main priority right now. If you see a power line that is hanging, stay away from it and report it right away. People are also asked to use caution and give line-workers some space. Move over or slow down when approaching a utility vehicle on the side of the road.
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Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.