- Power outage lasting 28 hours affected 1900 GCEA members in Lake City
- Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association moved a mobile substation from Montrose to Lake City through Little Blue Canyon
- GCEA and Tri-State crews worked around the clock to energize the mobile substation and restore power to all GCEA members
An unplanned power outage in the Lake City area on Monday, February 6, 2023, affected approximately 1900 GCEA members and knocked out power to homes and businesses for almost 28 hours. The outage started at 1:06 am due to a T1 circuit switcher opening at the substation. Power was restored to all affected GCEA members by 4:55 am on Tuesday, February 7, 2023.
Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association, which jointly owns and maintains the substation with GCEA, contacted GCEA immediately when the Tri-State circuit switcher failed and GCEA crews were dispatched shortly after. Efforts to energize the circuit switcher failed, and Tri-State got to work organizing a plan to move a mobile substation from Montrose to Lake City while simultaneously looking for parts to repair the damaged equipment.
By mid-morning on February 6, 2023, GCEA was able to restore power to the three-phase line through Lake City to Henson Creek, providing power to critical infrastructure such as the medical center, Lake City Community School, and the Armory. Meanwhile, Tri-State worked with CDOT to expedite the clearance to move the mobile substation along Highway 50 in difficult snow conditions. This involved providing a CDOT plow escort for the large semi-truck trailer to pull the equipment through Little Blue Canyon. The mobile substation arrived in Lake City just after 4 pm.
The GCEA line crew met the Tri-State crew around 4:30 pm to begin the process of setting the mobile substation into position and hooking up the equipment to the Lake City infrastructure. Because the mobile substation contains sensitive equipment and had traveled a significant distance, necessary check-out and testing process were required to ensure the equipment was safe and ready for reliable use. Once the equipment was verified, the crews began transferring load onto the mobile substation. Crews were located in different locations throughout the Lake City area to switch load from the SKITO Substation in Gunnison and transfer that load onto the mobile substation in Lake City. This configuration required taking some outages for a short period of time and then restoring them to a new source of feed. Crews continued to rotate through the morning until service was restored to all GCEA members affected. After service was determined to be all restored at 4:55 am, crews continued to check on all members to ensure power was on.
GCEA CEO Mike McBride was pleased with the teamwork and unified approach of the Tri-State team to safely restore power. “Our ability to restore power to remote parts of our service territory such as Lake City in such an unusual circumstance is a great example of the dedication of GCEA’s linemen and support staff, as well as the value of our relationship with Tri-State and their crews.”
"As electric cooperatives, GCEA and Tri-State share a mission to serve those at the end of the line, and working together, our crews and staff worked to marshal the equipment and resources needed to safely restore power,” said Duane Highley, Tri-State CEO.
GCEA wishes to express deep appreciation to its crew and the support of their families; Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association for its help and support during this outage; as well as an appreciation for the patience of the members in the Lake City area. Safety and reliability are top priorities for GCEA and together with Tri-State, power was restored as quickly and safely as possible.
