Look inside Dominion’s secretive room that’s key to restoring power after Hurricane Helene
After working his way through a labyrinth of thick doors and sterile hallways, Lee Xanthakos stepped into a secretive, cavernous room where some of the most important decisions in South Carolina are made.
Glowing lights and bright lines covered an entire wall from floor to ceiling as utility personnel monitored for signs of trouble on Dominion Energy’s power grid. The lighted area showed the network of energy sources and transmission lines that Dominion relies on to provide electricity in South Carolina.
When a major power line goes down or is threatened, technicians will see that on the twinkling wall and spring into action, using computers to remotely switch energy available in one part of the network to maintain or restore electricity in other areas. They also make lines safe for repairmen to work on.
Control room workers have been extra busy since Sept. 27, helping re-establish power to hundreds of thousands of people left in the dark by Hurricane Helene. By Thursday, the company said it had restored power to most customers and it was working to bring every home and business online.
Xanthakos, Dominion’s director of electric transmission and system operations, said the control room and the people who work there are vital to ensuring Columbia and other places in Dominion’s service territory have a continuous energy source to heat, light and cool their homes.
Power company control rooms like Dominion’s are “hubs of reliable and safe energy coordination,’’ said Xanthakos, who guided an unprecedented tour of the center earlier this year for The State newspaper.
“As soon as the first line tripped’’ during Hurricane Helene, control room workers were moving aggressively to reroute power to get energy restored, he said.
The control center, whose location is kept secret from the public for security reasons, is important to maintaining and restoring electricity during other natural disasters, such as ice and snow storms.
Dominion control room workers restore energy remotely with their computers, sending electricity from areas that have extra power to areas that are without power. They work with linemen to make repairs so that the system can begin providing electricity again.
“System control is the brain — constantly receiving and sending signals to regulate the critical flow of energy, respond instantly to changing conditions and coordinate all vital parts to work as one — all in a carefully orchestrated manner to safely, efficiently and reliably serve our customers every day no matter the conditions,’’ said Keller Kissam, Dominion’s chief in South Carolina.
The control room also helps keep electricity going during times when people are using more power than usual. During the 2022 Christmas holiday, the control center was bustling with activity as Dominion fought to prevent outages during an extreme cold snap.
But the control room isn’t just important during storms or cold snaps. Staffers keep an eye out daily for small blips in the system that need attention.
Control room officials also are involved in daily efforts to ramp up certain power sources to replace solar energy, which drops off when the sun goes down. Many times, hydro power plants are used to offset the night-time loss of solar, although coal and natural gas plants are relied upon, as well.
All told, the control room has at least three people on duty at night, with six or seven working there during the day, Xanthakos said. Eight extra workers were brought in to help in the control room as a result of Hurricane Helene.
The control room focuses on making sure major electrical wires, formally known as transmission lines, are operational. If those lines go down, entire areas can be without power. Another control center oversees distribution lines, or those running from the major transmission lines to neighborhoods, Xanthakos and company spokeswoman Rhonda O’Banion said.
Dominion’s control center is not unique. All power companies have similar setups to make sure energy is flowing to the public.
Rob Hochstetler, president and chief executive officer of the Central Electric Power Cooperative Inc, said control rooms like the one at Dominion are important to providing electricity. Central Electric represents the state’s electric cooperatives, which receive power from utilities.
“Control centers are crucial for balancing power supply with demand, ensuring electricity is always there when you need it,’’ he said in an email.
This story was originally published October 3, 2024 at 12:17 PM with the headline "Look inside Dominion’s secretive room that’s key to restoring power after Hurricane Helene."
