DETROIT – DTE Energy officials provided an update Wednesday afternoon as a winter storm brought a mixture of ice, snow, and rain to Michigan.
Matt Paul, the executive vice president of distribution operations for DTE, addressed the company’s planned response for the winter weather moving through Michigan. Sleet and ice have already started to fall, and high winds are expected Thursday.
“A half an inch of radial ice, so that’s ice covering, say, a wire, is the equivalent of having a baby grand piano on that single span of wire,” Paul said. “So the weight is significant for our system. We normally don’t see this kind of ice accumulation, so that’s the concern.”
You can watch his full 3 p.m. briefing in the video above.
As of 3 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 22), DTE wasn’t aware of any outages caused by ice, and only a few thousand caused by wind. But there’s a chance many more could lose power if the ice continues to accumulate.
“If we see a half an inch or more of ice, it certainly wouldn’t be out of the question to see a few hundred thousand outages, or thereabouts,” Paul said.
DTE Energy has activated its storm response team, including 1,500 line workers. More than 400 out-of-state crews have arrived in Michigan to help with planned restoration efforts.