82 Dominion Energy workers join national effort to help rebuild electric grid in Puerto Rico

Dominion Energy Virginia announced Dec. 26 that the company is preparing to send 82 restoration workers and 56 pieces of equipment and restoration vehicles to accelerate ongoing restoration efforts on the island through the mutual aid process. Dominion personnel anticipate assisting in Puerto Rico for a minimum of a month.

A news release said Dominion Energy bucket trucks and materials will leave the US Jan. 2 to travel by barge with the advance team to follow on Jan. 10.

“When the request for help came in, we immediately began making preparations,” Ed Baine, senior vice president of distribution-Dominion Energy, was quoted as saying in a news release. “While the logistics of responding to this type of restoration are complex, we are eager to respond to the call for aid from those in need.”

A total of 56 pieces of equipment and restoration vehicles will be readied to travel by barge to San Juan, Puerto Rico on Jan. 2.  An advance team of safety and logistics specialists, leadership and others will depart on Jan. 10. The remaining contingent of linemen, groundmen, other restoration workers and support personnel are scheduled to follow and begin restoration work on Jan. 15.

Dominion Energy is working in partnership and under the direction of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), Edison Electric Institute, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide crews, equipment, materials, expertise and additional resources to speed restoration for thousands of individuals and families still in the dark.

“As we speak, hundreds of trucks and thousands of pieces of equipment are being barged into Puerto Rico,” according to Carlos D. Torres, power restoration coordinator appointed by Gov. Ricardo Rosselló.

Dominion Energy is one of several investor-owned electric companies deploying a total of 1,500 restoration workers to Puerto Rico. With this new wave of mutual assistance, the total number of power restoration workers on the island will increase to more than 5,500.