Amy Howat

Amy Howat

The remains of the Ohio's Electric Cooperatives Education Center after being hit by a tornado.

Resilience and rebuilding

In the early morning hours of February 28, an EF2 tornado ripped through London, Ohio. Winds as high as 130 mph tore off roofs, snapped trees, and battered barns and outbuildings. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.

While Willie won’t be resurrected, the Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives Education Center — free popcorn and all — will be back, joining hundreds of farm-focused exhibitors September 17 to 19 for the 2024 Farm Science Review.

“It may look a bit different, but we’ll be there,” says Missy Kidwell, manager of cooperative development for Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives, noting that a new building, still under construction as of early August, was expected to be finished and ready to go in time.

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Niagara Falls

Revisiting renewables

There’s an important debate going on currently about the best way to generate electricity to power America’s homes and businesses, framed something like this: Low- or zero-carbon-emission sources that are both generally expensive and only intermittently available on the one

“While coal and natural gas provide the bulk of our electricity supply in a reliable and cost-competitive manner, we continue to seek opportunities to develop renewable energy projects that make sense for our members,” says Pat O’Loughlin, president and CEO of Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives, the trade association that provides services to the 24 electric distribution cooperatives in the state. “Our hydropower, bio-gas, and solar resources are an important part of the mix. We’re always looking to grow and expand our supply resources in economical, practical, and beneficial ways.”

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Ben Jones of South Central Power is finishing his associate degree through the COLT/WVU-P partnership. He plans to continue through the program and earn a bachelor’s degree.

Growing by degrees

When Brian Bick was fresh out of high school, he started taking college classes but soon discovered he didn’t enjoy spending his days in a classroom. He decided to pursue a career as an electric lineworker.

Higher-ed partnership puts co-op lineworkers on a path toward leadership.
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Summer forecast: Sunny and hot with a chance of blackouts

In June of 2022, after fierce storms ripped through the region, areas in and around Columbus were hit with power outages. Residents flocked to cooling centers as temperatures soared into the 90s.

That emergency balancing act is known by many names, including “intermittent outage” or “forced outage,” but is most commonly called a “rolling blackout.” It can happen when a peak in electricity use — usually during extremely hot or extremely cold weather — coincides with significant gaps in the generation or transmission of electricity, says Ben Wilson, director of power delivery engineering for Buckeye Power, which supplies electricity to Ohio’s electric cooperatives. 

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