Electric Co-op Today

An important tool to help co-ops prepare for ice storms could soon be available nationwide, and has earned a co-op veteran a top honor for his work.

Sid Sperry, director of public relations, communications and research at the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives, and Steve Piltz, meteorologist-in-charge of the National Weather Service office in Tulsa, Okla., developed the Sperry-Piltz Ice Accumulation Index.

It predicts the anticipated severity of ice storms, rating them on a scale similar to those used for hurricanes and earthquakes. “The sole reason that the SPIA Index was created was to shorten the amount of time that consumers were left without electricity due to devastating ice storms—something that we here in Oklahoma have experienced at least eight times during the last 10 years,” Sperry said.

Their expertise will now benefit many more people.

While Sperry has made the technology available free to any public agency, the only weather service office to use it was the one in Tulsa. But after meeting last month with Sperry and Piltz, the weather service’s southern region director instructed that the SPIA Index undergo operational tests this winter at four more offices: Amarillo, Texas; Fort Worth, Texas; Little Rock, Ark.; and Norman, Okla.

Once it passes, Sperry said the weather service could make the SPIA Index available nationally as early as winter 2010.

“I know that electric cooperative officials in other states would most certainly be able to benefit from this technology,” Sperry said. “And we hope that implementation of the SPIA Index by the National Weather Service will soon provide such advance warning that additional preparedness time can be given to utilities across the country.”

This month, Sperry received the prestigious 2009 Technical Innovation Award from the American Public Works Association.

“The usefulness of this Index is not limited to the electric utility industry, but public works and transportation departments can use the information to position road crews,” said Peter King, association executive director/CEO.

The SPIA Index has also attracted the attention of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. At this summer’s meeting, its Committee on Critical Infrastructure passed a resolution calling on the weather service to consider implementing the SPIA Index at any office “across the United States that could possibly be affected by devastating ice storms.” It also urged adoption “by disaster preparedness and emergency re­sponse agencies to better prepare for future ice storms.”

Sperry likes the sound of that. “Perhaps,” he said, “there will come a day when electric utilities and other agencies across the country will be able to fully benefit from being able to use our Index.”

Tags: Preparedness, Weather