CORE Electric, which services one-tenth as many customers as Xcel, trusted fail safes during windy weather.
PARKER, Colo. — With 1.5 million electric customers, Xcel Energy is the powerhouse of power in Colorado.Despite also having power lines that felt the same high winds last weekend, CORE did not shut off power to customers on purpose, like, that can shut off electricity to power lines if a tree falls into the lines or a power pole falls over.
“CORE’s alternate relay settings do not preemptively turn off any part of our system; they instead make the system is more sensitive to potential issues, such as a tree on a line,” the email stated. A “three-shot” for CORE means that the recloser is trying to close again three times, quickly trying to reconnect the power, as long as the issue is no longer detected.
Xcel has reclosers, as well, but purposefully shut off power to 55,000 people in six counties over the weekend. More than 168,000 Xcel customers lost power in the windstorm. The way power works, there are three phases – three power lines – and reclosers can shut off power to the lines individually. Perhaps your home is connected to the line shut off, but your neighbor across the street is getting electricity from one of the other two lines.
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