WASHINGTON/NEW YORK - The U.S. electric industry may ask essential staff to live on site at power plants and control centers to keep operations running if the coronavirus outbreak worsens, and has been stockpiling beds, blankets, and food for them, according to industry trade groups and electric cooperatives.
“The focus needs to be on things that keep the lights on and the gas flowing,” said Scott Aaronson, vice president of security and preparedness at the Edison Electric Institute , the nation’s biggest power industry association. He said that some “companies are already either sequestering a healthy group of their essential employees or are considering doing that and are identifying appropriate protocols to do that.
“When continuous remote work is not possible, businesses should enlist strategies to reduce the likelihood of spreading the disease,” the guidance stated. “This includes, but is not necessarily limited to, separating staff by off-setting shift hours or days and/or social distancing.”The Great River Energy cooperative which runs 10 power plants serving 1.7 million customers in Minnesota, said it is preparing for the possibility of sequestering staff essential to running its operations.
But McFarland said sequestering could happen if the coronavirus hits the region hard. He said the protocol, which could keep workers from the outside world for weeks, would be “effectively voluntary” but did not elaborate. He said the company is planning for a scenario of losing up to two-thirds of its staff during the outbreak.
Duke Energy Corp , which provides power to 7.7 million customers in six states and gas to 1.6 million customers in five states, said it instituted additional worker screening measures, such as temperature checks, at generating and other critical facilities.
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