
Water pools along a street near downtown Charleston, S.C., following the rains of Hurricane Dorian on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019. |
Electric utilities across the southeastern U.S. weathered the impacts of Hurricane Dorian without sustaining major damage, but companies are still taking precautions as the storm moves away from the Carolinas.
Dorian has weakened to a Category 1 storm, with maximum winds sustained at nearly 90 miles per hour, as of Sept. 6 at 2 p.m. ET, according to the National Hurricane Center. While the southeastern U.S. avoided the worst case scenario after Dorian slammed the Bahamas, the storm has caused power outages among utilities' customers in the region and prompted some to shut down power plants and monitor coal ash ponds as utilities take lessons from Hurricane Florence in 2018.
Duke Energy Corp., which operates in North and South Carolina through Duke Energy Progress LLC and Duke Energy Carolinas LLC, had about 117,000 customers without power as of 8 a.m. on Sept. 6 from the hurricane, Duke Energy spokesperson Neil Nissan said.
As part of its procedures for major storms, Duke Energy shut down its 1,928-MW Brunswick nuclear plant in Brunswick County, N.C., on Sept. 5. Nissan said both reactors at the plant remain offline until the plant operators give the facility the green light to resume normal operations. In addition, Duke Energy has shut off its 12.8-MW Camp Lejeune Solar project in Onslow County, N.C., due to the hurricane.
Duke Energy made a similar decision to shut down the Brunswick facility ahead of Hurricane Florence in 2018.
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"Our nuclear operators and other station employees, including emergency response team members, engineers and maintenance technicians are currently inspecting plant equipment and walking down the site," Nissan said in an email.
Power plants with coal ash ponds near the coast "have performed well" and management has not seen any issues, he added.
Dominion Energy Inc., which serves customers in Virginia and North Carolina through Virginia Electric and Power Co. and South Carolina through Dominion Energy South Carolina, Inc., had about 65,000 customers in its Virginia and North Carolina service territories without power as of early Sept. 6, Dominion Energy spokesperson Jeremy Slayton said.
Most of the power outages have been concentrated in the Outer Banks region in North Carolina, Slayton said.
Dominion Energy South Carolina had about 90,000 customers without power as of Sept. 6 at 9 a.m., spokesperson Ashley Cunningham told S&P Global Market Intelligence. The utility did not have to shut down any plants ahead of the storm and is continuing to check coal ash ponds for debris and monitor water levels in the ponds.
Santee Cooper, legally known as South Carolina Public Service Authority, had about 6,300 customers without power as of Sept. 6 at 10 a.m., with the utility expecting all customers to have their power restored by the end of Sept. 7, Corporate Communications Manager Mollie Gore said in an email.
Gore said Santee Cooper did not have to shut down any plants ahead of the storm, nor did any power plants experience significant issues because of the hurricane. The company also continues to monitor its ash ponds for potential flooding.
"We have had no issues, nor do we expect any," she added.

