All of Hatteras Island is now on continuous emergency generator power – from Hatteras village all the way up to Rodanthe, Susan Flythe, general manager of the Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative, said this afternoon.

And CHEC is making good progress on restoring the transmission lines over the breaches on Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Flythe said that all of the villages are now operating on emergency diesel generators.  The main generator is next to the Buxton CHEC office and supplies power to Buxton, Frisco, and Hatteras.  In addition, two emergency megawatt generators were brought in by ferry on Tuesday and are located in the tri-village area to supply power to Avon, Rodanthe, Waves, and Salvo. 

The generators in Buxton, Flythe said, were not programmed for a “black start” – starting up without an outside feed or source.  Engineers were flown to the island to work on the computer system, and the power started returning to the southern villages late on Tuesday. It took most of yesterday and today to get power established in Avon and the tri-villages.

The generators, Flythe said, have more than sufficient capacity to handle the load on the island at this point – with far fewer residents here and many fewer businesses open.

This is the CHEC’s temporary and short-term solution while it works to get a “temporary permanent solution,” which is repairing the 115kV transmission lines through Pea Island, where there are several inlets.  Once Highway 12 is repaired on Pea Island and in northern Rodanthe, CHEC will restore permanent transmission lines.


Cooperative crews continued to work today on the transmission line at the Pea Island breach.  Using a barge provided by Cape Dredging, they have been able to access the new inlet and carry the heavy equipment needed for the repair. 

This afternoon, the crews secured two new poles to carry the transmission lines across the breach.  Two additional poles are needed to complete the temporary restoration.

Flythe says that if all goes well, the temporary transmission line could be completed by the end of the weekend.

CHEC continues to urge all members to conserve use of electricity until permanent transmission service is restored.