Gas system prepared for record winter
Crews work to improve system capacity to meet the growing gas needs of the Verona area.The winter season placed MGE's gas system under levels of stress not seen in years, but it met the demands. Several days of high gas use occurred during protracted cold spells, including our winter peak of 204,000 dekatherms recorded on Feb. 10, 2008.
"Sustained cold weather tests our gas system and that's when reliability is most important," said John Kilsdonk, manager - Gas Engineering. "Our system performed well," he said. "Nobody expected the record-setting winter of 2007-08." It wasn't just the cold that taxed the system and the crews that serviced and maintained it.
With a record snowfall that exceeded 100 inches for the season, "the basic task of accessing our distribution facilities was an ongoing challenge," Kilsdonk observed. Area meteorologists had predicted more snow than during the past several winters, but nobody expected a near-tripling of recent norms.
"Mother Nature doesn't tell you what benchmarks to shoot for, but we try to be prepared for every extreme," he said.
MGE's gas crews completed infrastructure projects in Fitchburg, Madison and Middleton that were critical to ensuring reliability during this extreme winter, and the new regulators at our south gate station in Fitchburg performed well.
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