High-tech tools help DOE speed hurricane recovery

摘要

As Hurricane Gustav roared ashore along the Gulf Coast last week, Energy Department officials sat hundreds of miles away in Washington watching live video of power lines being blown off their moorings by the storm's 1 OO-mile-per-hour winds. DOE also utilized a remote-controlled Predator "drone" spy plane - which the US military has deployed extensively over Iraq, Afghanistan and other war zones -to see exactly which power lines feeding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve were in need of repair. It was the first time that DOE had used such technology to respond to a hurricane, according to Kevin Kolevar, the department's assistant secretary for electricity delivery and energy reliability. Kolevar said the high-tech infusion helped DOE to act more quickly and effectively on the critical energy infrastructure that was damaged by the storm.