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News and Updates from Seattle City Light

Park, Charge and Go: Electric Vehicle Charging at Two Seattle Parks

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Electric Vehicle Charging

Seattle City Light and Seattle Parks and Recreation invite community members to attend the following open houses to learn about City Light’s proposal to install public electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in Magnuson Park and Gas Works Park as part of the City of Seattle’s Drive Clean Initiative. Road transportation represents two-thirds of Seattle’s climate pollution. The Drive Clean Initiative is focused on leveraging Seattle’s clean electricity across the transportation sector to support the city’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.

Magnuson Park and Gas Works Park have been identified as sites for two direct current (DC) fast chargers for electric vehicles. These units can charge most EVs for approximately 100 miles of range in 30 minutes. At the open house, customers can learn about the proposed EV charging station locations. City of Seattle staff will be available to answer questions from the community about EVs and City Light’s public EV charging pilot program.

Magnuson Park Open House

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

6:00-8:00pm

The public is encouraged to drop in anytime during these hours.

Open House Location

Magnuson Park
The Brig / Building 406

6344 NE 74th Street

Seattle, WA 98115

Gas Works Park Open House

Thursday, January 17, 2019

6:00-8:00pm

The public is encouraged to drop in anytime during these hours.

Open House Location

John Stanford International School
Library Room

4057 5th Ave NE

Seattle, WA 98105

Seattle City Light will present input from the open houses to the Seattle Board of Park Commissioners prior to approval of the sites.

Seattle City Light is dedicated to delivering customers affordable, reliable and environmentally responsible electricity services. http://www.seattle.gov/light

[#FlashbackFriday] 1969 City Light Holiday Mailer

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1969 City Light Holiday Mailer

Talk about a blast from the past! A member of City Light’s Power Marketing team recently found this holiday mailer from 1969 in a stack of documents. The manila cover and carbon paper interior include scrumptious recipes like Brisk Cherry Salad and Quick Lemonade Bread (and yes, one of the ingredients is frozen lemonade concentrate) along with beautifully designed kitchen appliances and holiday-themed characters. The back cover encouraged the reader to consider adding a “major electric appliance” to their holiday wishlist. This (at the time) annual piece was developed for City Light’s Home Economics Division and included the venerable Mary Norris’ signature of approval (read about Mary’s lasting legacy at City Light here!).

Check out our Flickr album above and tell us which recipe you’re want to make for your next holiday gathering!

City Light and Starbucks Team Together to Brighten the Holiday Season for Treehouse

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2018 Treehouse Donations

This holiday season, City Light partnered with Starbucks to gather donations of gifts and funds for Treehouse, a local non-profit organization which provides foster children in Washington state with the support they need to thrive. In its second year, the duo spread their holiday cheer across Seattle’s downtown core by expanding the number of donation sites including 14 Starbucks locations.

As of Dec. 21,  the drive garnered more than 300 gifts including clothing, toys, tech gadgets, etc. for kids of all ages and raised $5,200 in monetary funds, exceeding its initial goal of $2,000, which will go directly to Treehouse to further their efforts!

In an email, Dana Petrarca, community engagement officer, thanked City Light, Starbucks and the donators who helped make this season a little brighter for the community they serve, writing: “we can’t thank you all enough for giving so many people the opportunity to give to youth in foster care!”

Here is a breakdown of this year’s drive!

 

To learn more about Treehouse and to donate to their cause, visit treehouseforkids.org. 

What to Expect On Day Two of Yesterday’s Wind-Related Outages

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Yesterday, a windstorm blew through Western Washington. Almost 300,00 people lost power throughout the region as wind gusting over 60 mph battered trees and blew them into contact with power lines. In the Seattle City Light service area, 40,000 customers lost electricity over the course of the day.

City Light crews worked throughout yesterday afternoon and evening to restore power to those customers. As the day came to an end, approximately 4,000 City light customers remained without power. At this moment, City Light’s overhead, underground and vegetation management crews are continuing their work throughout the service area to bring power back to everyone.

City Light crews expect to restore service to almost everyone by this afternoon. Here’s what City Light customers can expect as the outage restoration process moves forward today.

It’s going to take a while to reach everyone.

After threats to life safety and emergency services are addressed, City Light restores power in the order which will benefit the most customers. That’s why outages that affect thousands are resolved before outages that affect dozens. Once the large outages are remedied, the restoration process moves to medium-sized outages, and so on.

Are you the only person without power in your neighborhood? If so, you won’t be the first stop for a crew in your area. We have over a hundred outages across our service area, and that’s a lot of individual outages to address. Don’t worry, though. Help is on the way.

Here’s a graphic to more fully explain the process.

Working in the dark is more difficult.

City Light crews are used to working in adverse conditions, but it is an inescapable fact that doing line work in low light makes the job more difficult. This is another factor that will contribute to delays as work continues overnight.

 

Lineworkers need sleep too.

But that doesn’t mean work comes to a halt! It just means it’s time for a shift change. It may take a few extra minutes to bring the new folks up to speed on current restoration efforts.

 

We won’t stop working until the job is done.

At City Light, we take great pride in serving our community. It’s our community too! We want to restore your power as quickly as possible, and we’re going to do everything we can to accomplish that goal safely and efficiently.

For more updates, follow our Facebook and Twitter channels. Information is also available on our power outage map. Thanks for being patient as we work to bring power back to everyone throughout our service area!

Seattle City Light Funds Glacier Recession Research

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Glacier-fed Diablo Lake

Seattle City Light recently funded a study which researched and forecasted the recession patterns of glaciers in our region. The research article, titled “Glacier Recession and the Response of Summer Streamflow in the Pacific Northwest United States, 1960-2099,” explores the recent recession patterns of these glaciers whose melt and water flow will impact hydroelectric power generation, agricultural water supply, and the ecological health of the watersheds downstream. Along with funding a portion of the research, City Light advised on the scope of the project to provide insight into when streamflows were most important for power generation, recreation, and fish protection.

Through hydrological modeling, the study found that primarily temperature-induced shrinking of glaciers will increase throughout this century. The model showed that the glaciers in the North Cascades could nearly disappear by the year 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions are not curbed.

For Ronda Strauch, City Light’s climate change adaptation researcher and adviser, this research is vital to not only the health of the glaciers but shapes how utilities that generate power with hydroelectricity like City Light will continue their operations in the future.

“We look to research like this for future predictions of inflows into the reservoirs and how much hydroelectric power our utility will be able to produce,” explains Strauch. “We wanted to make sure that glacier activity was added to this hydrologic model used in this research to get a better picture of streamflow into our reservoirs. It could also guide our operational changes in the future, such as controlling water levels to reserve for the summer months. This will help us decipher the long-term consequences of these melting glaciers.”

One of the consequences is the potential lowering water levels along the Skagit River during late summer. In keeping with City Light’s commitment to environmental stewardship, such as supporting the salmon recovery plan that protects and restores the chinook, bull trout and other species listed under the Endangered Species Act in the Skagit Watershed, the utility is watching closely this kind of research to better understand the changes in climate the region will incur for decades to come.

“The future still has a lot of uncertainty to it,” said Strauch. “While it is not completely set, there are some aspects of the future that is clear. It’s our job as a utility to do what we can to ensure that future generations are prepared for the impacts. Our decisions help prepare for what the future will look like.”

Click here to read the abstract of the research article.

Outages: Friday, Dec. 14 – Sunday, Dec. 16

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UPDATE: As of 6:38 p.m. (12/16/18), there are 13 remaining outages from Friday’s windstorms impacting 43 customers in north & south Seattle. The majority will be restored by midnight. Crews are setting service poles & working as quickly and safely as possible.

UPDATE: As of 6:11 p.m. (12/15/18), crews continue to repair damage with 384 customers currently without power. The numbers continue to decline as work is being completed.

UPDATE: As of 4:28 p.m. (12/15/18), power has been restored to the majority of customers who were impacted by last night’s windstorms. Our crews continue to work to restore power to the remaining amount, which is currently at 737 customers.

Our outage map has the latest update: http://www.seattle.gov/light/sysstat/

UPDATE: As of 7:10 a.m. (12/15/18), there are approx. 3,500 customers without power in the North end. Approx. 1,400 of those are due to a tree on a feeder. In Magnolia, approx. 650 customers are without power due to a tree in a corner pole. Both of these jobs have crews onsite making repairs. In the South end, crews have been working all night to restore power to the White Center/Burien area. A couple of feeders are down, causing outages.

UPDATE: As of 6:11 a.m. (12/15/18), power is still out for approx. 13,000 customers. The number of impacted customers is slowly declining and we thank you for your patience as our crews work to restore power!

UPDATE: As of 4:10 a.m. (12/15/18), power is still out for approx. 19,000 customers. It’s been a long, cold night. A few tips to stay warm: camp out in a small room of your home, close your windows properly, seal your doors and do NOT use a generator indoors as exhaust contains carbon monoxide.

UPDATE: As of 1:11 a.m. (12/15/18), there are 31,324 without power. In the South end, four feeders are out which is impacting approx. 20,000 customers. In the North end, approx. 8,400 customers are out due to a tree on a feeder. Both incidents are being assessed.

UPDATE: As of 11:00 p.m. (12/14/18), 37,692 customers are without power. We’re starting to receive reports of power being restored to different areas which is good news. In the meantime, bundle up with blankets and sweaters, use flashlights and keep your refrigerator and freezer doors closed!

UPDATE: As of 8:55 p.m. (12/14/18), more than 45,000 customers are still without power. Remember, that downed power lines due are extremely dangerous. Stay at least 20 feet away and report them to 206-684-3000. If you find yourself near a downed power line, don’t walk or run…SHUFFLE at least 20 feet away. This Seattle Channel video featuring Field Operations Supervisor Ed Hill shows how.

UPDATE: As of 6:52 p.m. (12/14/18), more than 40,000 customers are without power. Crews have been called in and are working quickly (and safely) to restore power. We’ll continue to provide updates. Thanks for your patience!

ORIGINAL (12/14/18): More than 13,000 customers are without power in Seattle due to high winds sweeping across the Puget Sound. The outages began in West Seattle around 5:40 p.m. this evening and soon began to spread across the city. We will continue to provide updates as information becomes available.

Updates are being shared on our Facebook and Twitter channels. Information is also available on our power outage map.

Thank you for your patience as our crews work quickly (and safely) to restore power.

Seattle City Light Hosts STEAM in Power Workshop at Lighting Design Lab

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2018 SPIN Girls Event

On Saturday, Dec. 8, City Light hosted 25 young women from the SPIN Girls group for our first ever STEAM in Power Workshop. Our Community Outreach team created the program, partnering with the Lighting Design Lab to host the event and with STEM Paths Innovation Network (SPIN), a Seattle non-profit dedicated to creating equity and opportunities for youth to succeed in science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM).

The interactive workshop included a tour of the lab, a brief introduction to City Light and our mission, an Electricity 101 lesson, hands-on building of electrical circuits and a meet-and-greet activity featuring 16 women from across the utility who work in a variety of STEAM fields, including engineering, skilled trades, environmental , customer care, financial services and the technical arts.

Haya Muñoz, SPIN Girls program manager, shared that “these young ladies are dedicated to learning more about STEAM. With thoughtfully planned Field Days like this, they are getting an opportunity to learn how City Light uses STEM and to see women working in the STEM fields. The hands-on activity of learning basic circuitry showed these young ladies how it works and how it connects into our day-to-day lives. Partnerships such as these are valuable as they provide opportunities and support for empowering young ladies in our community to be a scientist, mathematician, electrician, or any STEAM-related careers; to show them the possibilities of what they can be and what they can achieve.”

 

Seattle City (spot)Light: Dejene Mersha

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In 2013, Dejene Mersha started at City Light as an intern in the Network Engineering group. Since then, he’s worked as an assistant electrical engineer with Network Engineering and Systems Planning team and is now part of the Generation Operations & Engineering division as an associate electrical engineer. “My internship was a really good experience,” Dejene said. “I’m glad that I continued to work here. The people here are rich in experience and, working with them, has showed me where to be and how to develop my skills.”

Dejene was born in Ethiopia. He moved to the United States in 2007 with one destination on his mind: Seattle. “I had family living in Tampa, Florida, but a friend suggested I study engineering at the University of Washington,” he shared. “So, I headed straight to Seattle, to join UW.” He graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from University of Washington and went on to receive his master’s degree in electrical power engineering from Washington State University. Dejene and his wife Hana live in Lake Stickney with their six-year-old son Yoseph.

In this week’s (spot)Light, Dejene talks about his work and shares a few of his favorite activities.

Dejene with his family

“Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been interested in anything that was relevant to electricity. It’s always been my passion. I knew that I wanted to study electricity, specifically the electrical field. That’s why I came to the United States—to pursue a higher education. My background specializes in power engineering. With my experience, you want to work at a power company. Living in Seattle, it was clear that City Light is the ideal place for me.”

“It’s been great working with different groups at the utility. The work is interesting; always different. And I’ve learned a lot. When I was with Network Engineering, I analyzed energy loads. With System Planning, I studied the system and provided recommendations to our team. I’m fairly new to my current role, but I help prepare the engineering schematic and relevant drawings for major hydroelectric power generating units. I also help fulfill the standards and regulatory obligations assigned by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC).”

“When I’m not working, I like to spend time with my loved ones. There’s nothing better than that, right? That’s one of the reasons why I love where I live. We have a backyard for us to hang out and there is a little park by my house where I like to play with my son. I also like to play soccer and take my son swimming.”

“Weekends are always fun at my house because my wife loves to cook. And she is a great cook! She is always trying new foods, new recipes. That’s why I like it so much; nothing is similar or repetitive. She explores different culture’s food and will cook anything and everything! Recently she made Pasta Al Forno. She deviated from the traditional recipe and adding her own touch by using different sauces. It was amazing!”

Seattle City (spot)Light: Jessica Coleman

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Electrical Engineer Jessica Coleman began her City Light career as an intern with Energy Delivery Engineering’s Street Lighting team. She later became a full-time employee with the Generation Operations and Engineering division. “I work mostly on capital projects,” Jessica explained. “I can be assigned to any electrical project within our six powerhouses. For example, I was part of the team that did bank replacements at Ross powerhouse; I drafted connection drawings and things like that.”

Jessica grew up in Iowa. “I lived in Des Moines which is a small town, but is probably one of Iowa’s bigger towns,” she said with a laugh. “A few of my friends were living in Portland, Oregon and I decided to make the move and join them.” Eventually, she ended up in Seattle and lives in First Hill with her husband Jeff.

In this week’s (spot)Light, Jessica talks about her career path and shares her creative flair.

Jessica and Jeff

“I like to do stuff with my hands, get crafty. I knit and crochet. For a while, I had a shop on Etsy. I don’t know remember how I started, but I’ve been slowly improving through the years. I want to expand my repertoire and move on from hats and scarves to sweaters. I’ve also made jewelry. In fact, once I started electrical engineering I began to make jewelry out of electrical components!”

“Jeff and I also love live music. We catch different concerts around town. My favorite venue is the Neptune Theatre. It has a great space, is more intimate, and the vibe of the crowd is a bit different from other places. We’re also season ticket holders to the Seattle Opera. I also volunteer at the Seattle Public Library as an usher for special events, usually an author reading from their new book. I really enjoyed Vaddey Ratner who wrote In the Shadow of the Banyan. I usually read sci-fi; her novel was a huge departure for me.”

“My job is fun. It’s interesting. Basically, everything I hoped it would be when I went into engineering. But it wasn’t always that way. When I graduated high school, I wanted to get a degree in fine arts and a minor in anthropology. I never finished, though. I worked different jobs—was even a hair dresser for a long time—but it was my husband who sparked my interest in this field. He’s a software engineer. I knew I wanted to do something that was helpful, that benefitted others. I also wanted a career that had long term stability. So, after many years, I went back to school and graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in electrical engineering.”

“I picked power as my concentration because I knew the energy landscape was changing and I wanted to be part of integrating renewables into the existing grid. I feel good about working for City Light because we recognize our impact on the environment and do things to mitigate it. I chose this job over other companies because I believe we’re headed in the right direction. My time at our hydro facilities has also given me a better understanding of what our impact is on both nature and the community of people who were here long before we built our dams. I feel like I can make a difference here.”

City Light Acquires Land For Salmon Habitat Revitalization

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Photo of the Skagit River shore.,

The Skagit River riverfront property purchased by City Light

City Light recently acquired 61 acres of land along the Skagit River near Rockport, including approximately 1,500 feet of river frontage in a critical spawning reach of the Skagit River. The property is adjacent to other City Light, Skagit County and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife properties. This acquisition further expands and protects this vital corridor of fish and wildlife habitat.

Denise Krownbell of City Light’s Environment, Land and Licensing Business Unit acquired the property primarily with Salmon Recovery Funding Board grant funds and supplemented by a portion of City Light funds. These funds are targeted at supporting Endangered Species Act listed species, in this case predominately steelhead, through acquisitions of critical areas, particularly those that include spawning and rearing habitat.

“We tried to purchase this property in 2012,” explains Krownbell. “We are glad to finally get this acquisition in our effort to protect and revitalize these ecosystems.”

To learn more about City Light’s commitment to revitalizing and maintaining salmon habitats, visit www.seattle.gov/light/greenest/naturetested.asp.