Bassett, VA- Officials at Philpott Dam continue to assess a breaker failure that resulted in damaged switchgear systems within the control room.
Philpott Operations Manager Craig Rockwell said that no one was injured, and that most of the damaged equipment was scheduled to be replaced with a contract that is at work currently constructing a new building to house the new switchgear equipment.
“The good news is that it happened after work hours, so there were no people in the building and nobody was hurt,” Rockwell said.
Rockwell said that there will be no electrical generation from now until the new switchgear building is finished and the new equipment is placed online. According to Corps officials, this may be as long as eight months or longer.
“We will continue to provide water flow to the Smith River via our sluice gates as necessary to keep Philpott Lake at optimal levels,” Rockwell said. “This will be determined by coordination with our district office water management team. The first setting will be to about 500 cubic feet per second (cfs), which is slightly less than releases with one generator running.”
Release no. 18-039