WVNS, HINTON, — Residents of Hinton’s Bellepoint neighborhood will soon be able to hear helicopter blades as Mon Power performs an urgent repair close by.
A redundancy power line was installed on an island in the New River, directly in front of the Bluestone Dam, more than a century ago.
The extension pole on that power line snapped, leaving it hanging over the water just days before the last winter storm blew through.
The need to fix this line is urgent because winter will be here for a few more months.
Mon Power is collaborating with Summers County Office of Emergency Management Director Loyd Lowry to complete the repairs.
“Mon Power has accelerated this repair to get this back in service because it’s a crucial 12-thousand-volt relay across the river,” Lowry said.
Given the island’s location, a helicopter is the most efficient means of transporting the new extension pole and workers to the power line.
The men and their gear will be transported over by helicopter on Friday, according to Lowry.
The linemen will strap themselves in and wait for the next trip to bring the new pole and equipment over after the helicopter has lowered them onto the pole.
After spending so much money on these redundancy circuits, Lowry is grateful that this repair is being handled with such seriousness.
“It is crucial that the power grid has redundancy. In order to promptly restore power to sizable populations in the event of problems like this, winter storms, or other damage to the electrical grid, Mon Power and AEP have both heavily invested in putting these redundant circuits up, according to Lowry.
When the primary circuits are damaged and unavailable, the island circuit serves as a backup for almost half of the county.
According to Lowry, his agency has collaborated with Mon Power and the Corps of Engineers to obtain the necessary authorizations to utilize Bellepoint Park’s parking lot as the linemen’s and helicopter’s staging and landing location.
