Beyond the Storm: How Co-ops Are Preparing For and Responding to Emergencies (CIN Ideas for Innovation Webinar Series)

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Estimated viewing time: 60 minutes

Why This Matters for Rural Electric Co-ops

Emergencies are one of the largest cost and liability exposures a co-op faces. A single storm or wildfire can mean hundreds of broken poles, days of lost service, heavy restoration bills, and, in fire-prone territory, the risk that co-op equipment ignites a catastrophic fire. This webinar puts three practical responses side by side: national-lab modeling tools that predict near-term damage and long-term climate risk, a tiered hurricane response plan built from real storm experience, and a wildfire public safety power management (PSPM) program that deliberately trades some reliability for reduced ignition risk.

For co-op leaders, the value is in the specifics they can borrow. A co-op can benchmark its own emergency plan against DEMCO's tier structure and its documentation discipline, which determines how much restoration cost FEMA reimburses rather than passing it to members. It can weigh La Plata's enhanced power safety settings and public safety power shutoffs as ways to reduce wildfire liability, and it can apply for free U.S. Department of Energy technical assistance to test Idaho National Laboratory's StormDepart and Acclimate tools at no cost beyond staff time.

Key Takeaways

Implementation Considerations

• Cost or Funding Requirements: Undergrounding and battery storage were raised as ideal but frequently cost-prohibitive. Both co-ops described them as actively studied yet limited by cost of service. Grants (La Plata used a $50,000 award for one right-of-way project) and free DOE technical assistance can offset early costs.
• Staffing or Technology Requirements: These programs assume real capacity. DEMCO relies on dedicated systems-operations staff and a mobile command center, and La Plata contracts a third-party AI risk firm (Firescape) plus a growing network of its own weather stations (23 feeds, three co-op-owned, four more planned). Smaller co-ops will likely need mutual-aid agreements, regional collaboration, or shared services to reach a comparable level.
• Time-Sensitive Information: The availability of DOE Office of Electricity technical assistance, the INL tools' release timing, and grant programs can shift. Confirm current status before building a plan around any of them.

Notable Examples

• Idaho National Laboratory: Developed Resilience Guard, integrating StormDepart (near-term damage prediction), Acclimate (long-term climate and demographic risk modeling), a public fragility-curve library, and the RAISE AI resilience engine.
• DEMCO (Louisiana): Shared a hurricane emergency response plan approved by the Louisiana PSC and board, with three response tiers, mutual-aid activation, and rigorous FEMA cost documentation.
• La Plata Electric Association (Colorado): Runs a public safety power management (PSPM) program combining vegetation management, drone inspections, enhanced power safety settings (EPSS), and public safety power shutoffs (PSPS).
• Firescape: Third-party wildfire, energy, and weather team providing hourly AI risk scoring and 7-day forecasts calibrated to La Plata's assets and microclimates.
• U.S. DOE Office of Electricity: Funded the INL tools and offers free technical assistance for utilities to adopt them.
• Fire Adapted Colorado: Ambassador program that secured member buy-in for La Plata's Los Ranchitos right-of-way clearing project.
• Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives: Mutual-aid coordinator DEMCO calls to source outside crews by tier and customer count.

View Webinar

Estimated viewing time: 60 minutes