The Operations organization at Alabama Power includes all the people responsible for moving electricity from the generation plants to homes and businesses, and today we celebrate them for what they do behind the scenes to keep the lights on.
“It’s recognition of the hard work that our Operations team does day in and day out,” said Glenn Easterwood, supervisor of the Alabama Transmission Control Center, commonly referred to as the ACC. He’s been with Alabama Power for 31 years. “We don’t get the frontline thank-you from the general public, so to be able to be recognized for Operations Day is a big deal for us. It means a lot to the folks who are operating the system.”
When electricity leaves a generation plant, it is transported long distances at high voltage via transmission lines to transmission substations. That part of supplying electricity for customers is managed by the ACC.
At the transmission substations, the electricity is lowered in voltage and transmitted farther to distribution substations, which then distribute electricity to homes and businesses. Moving electricity from the distribution station to homes is managed by the Distribution Control Center (DCC).
If the lineworkers of Alabama Power are the superheroes who work in high-visibility situations to keep the lights on, then the Operations teams in the ACC and DCC are the folks working behind the scenes to keep the lights on.
“If we can provide safe and reliable power to the customer correctly,” Easterwood said, “they never know what we do.”
‘Because life is 24-7’
Together, the highly skilled ACC and DCC teams monitor the grid to make sure electricity is flowing properly 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year.
On Thanksgiving, someone is there. On Christmas Eve, someone is there. On Christmas Day, someone is there. Even during the Iron Bowl, someone is there, manning each of the workstations in the ACC and in the DCC.
“We have to be 24-7 because life is 24-7,” Easterwood said. “We try to ensure that the power is always flowing.”
The Operations organization also works with field personnel because equipment must be maintained. “For instance, if a section of the line needs to be worked on, we will reroute power around that section, take it out of service, so that they can work on it safely,” Easterwood said. “We’re switching things around so there’s as minimal impact to the customer as possible. That’s for routine work and when there’s trouble like storm damage or equipment damage. When we have a storm come through, our job in Operations is to figure out how to reroute power to pick up the customers’ service again.”
The ACC has six division desks, one for each of Alabama Power’s six divisions – Eastern (Anniston area), Birmingham (including Jefferson and Shelby counties), Western (Tuscaloosa area), Southern (Montgomery area), Southeast (Eufaula area) and Mobile (Mobile and southwest area). One operator is responsible for what is going on in each region.
“If any of the lines in their region has a fault, they are in control of getting that restored,” Easterwood said. “Getting it isolated, identifying where the trouble is, and at that point, we have to communicate to the field what section of line is out. We also get them dispatched to go figure out the cause of the fault.”
While the ACC is centrally located in Birmingham, the DCC has five locations around the state. Plans are to centralize the DCC in Birmingham in 2026 to streamline those services, according to Colby Dickerson, supervisor of the Eastern Division DCC.
“A lot has to do with security,” he said. “Not only from physical security but also cyber security. It’s the world we live in now.”
Dickerson said the typical day for the DCC includes monitoring the electrical system, performing system maintenance and restoring service, whether that’s a car hitting a pole or a tree falling on a line, etc.
“The DCC is at the center of all distribution operations,” Dickerson said.
“DCC employees are on the phone with customer service, talking to the field, talking to the ACC, talking to substations, talking to the customers […],” he said. “We deal with so many facets of the company and a lot of work is funneled through the DCC, so we are at the center of everything going on.”
Like the ACC, the DCC has operators, but the DCC also has operations assistants who dispatch outages, manage work orders, schedule appointments and other duties, while the operators focus on maintaining the distribution system. Each DCC operator has a workstation with six computer monitors.
‘Technology has come a long way’
Over the years, technology has made the system more automated and more secure. Advances like smart meters make it possible to recognize outages and locate the source of the problem more quickly, but also help shield the grid from nefarious activity.
“With the advancement of technology, I know exactly when the power goes out because it’s hitting my screen,” Dickerson said. “Our people are on it, and they’re addressing it right then. Technology has come a long way.”
Another example of advancements made in technology is the ability for the system to self-heal. This technology positively affects customers at the distribution level and is designed to identify the source of an outage and isolate it by automatically rerouting power around the outage until the issue is repaired.
What the customer typically experiences is a loss of power for a few seconds rather than what could have been a few hours.
Since coming online in 2019, the self-healing grid has saved more than 2 million customers from experiencing a sustained outage.
There’s also an ACC desk that monitors and manages all of Alabama Power’s hydro dams. Technology allows the dams to be opened and closed remotely from the ACC.
The hydro desk operators work closely with the rest of the ACC team, especially during high peak conditions like Winter Storm Elliot. They can quickly call on hydro resources to improve temporary system conditions across the state.
“We’ve been working on automation like distribution’s self-healing network. I think that’s the next technology for us in transmission,” Easterwood said. Transmission has a smaller-scale version of that technology that isolates faults on some of its 46kV lines. “That will help our operators become even more efficient at their jobs.”
Though the jobs in Operations are technical, managing the flow of electricity throughout the system is sometimes as much art as it is science. The operators must understand how to massage the system in a way that manages spikes and surges in demand from specific areas under various circumstances. Much of that understanding comes only from experience.
Take Mark Shows, for instance. He is the senior power system coordinator, and he mans the ACC’s systems operations desk, which monitors the overall system from a bird’s-eye view. His 48 years with the company give him the experience needed to understand the intricacies of how to manage the flow of electricity across the entire grid at the transmissions level.
“They have to look at the system and determine, what can I do without interrupting power flow, what are the limitations on the equipment, what’s working, what’s not working,” Easterwood said. “That thought process makes it a challenge, but most of the people on the floor enjoy that challenge. That’s why the Operations folks – without the visibility and recognition from the customer – there’s self-gratification in knowing the job and having a sense of pride in what we do.”
‘Always there to answer the call’
As storms come through, the Operations teams like to get the power back on as quickly as possible, but they have to allow the storms to move through first, and then figure out the extent of the trouble and get people responding. When possible, they prepare for storms in advance by staffing up, but some storms are more severe than expected.
In September, for instance, Hurricane Helene caused more outages at one time in Georgia than ever before, and Alabama Power not only sent lineworkers to assist, but also sent ACC and DCC operators to help them operate their system.
RELATED: Georgia shows appreciation to Alabama Power crews during Hurricane Helene restoration
“I tip my hat to the men and women in our workforce,” Dickerson said. “The dedication that they have, regardless of time of day or what the circumstance may be, they are always there to answer the call.”
Alabama Power has a 99.98% reliability rate, which means when customers flip the switch at home, the lights come on nearly every single time. The folks in Operations are largely responsible for that.
“Operations Appreciation Day is an opportunity for the company to focus on our Operations teams. The DCC, ACC and the entire Operations organization plays a vital role in maintaining our electrical system, ensuring the safety of our field employees,” Dickerson said. “So, for me, this is a time to pause and acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our operators and operations assistants.”
As the people in the chair whose best work is done behind the scenes, both supervisors were thoughtful when asked what they’d like to say to Alabama Power’s 1.5 million customers.
“We take pride in ‘keeping the lights on’ for the great state of Alabama. There’s a lot of hard work, dedication, not to mention countless hours put into the jobs we do to make that happen. They are masterminds behind the smart systems that we operate. There’s a lot that goes on to maintain the integrity of the system and our work. We are ‘essential’ workers and the work we do has significant impacts,” Dickerson said. “The job is not always easy, but we are always there for our customers.”
Easterwood was just as reflective.
“First, I’d want to say thank you for allowing us the opportunity to serve you,” he said. “Second, we’re citizens of the state just like everyone else. We understand that it’s a challenge when power goes out, and we are working our hardest to restore your service, and know that we take pride in that.”
Each workstation in the Distribution Control Center has six screens to monitor activity across the different distribution territories. (Anthony Cook / Alabama News Center)
Courtesy of Alabama News Center.
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