Thursday's major power outage in Medicine Hat only lasted about 15 minutes as the generator in question was restarted immediately, but power officials are still trying to figure out why specific areas were the ones to go dark.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
@MedicineHatNews
Testing of the city power plant’s switching system caused a generator to trip off, resulting in a power outage across one-third of Medicine Hat on Thursday.
Power was restored to most of 11,000 customers within minutes as the unit was restarted and the problem was completely resolved within half an hour over the lunch hour.
Utility distribution official Boyd Mostoway told that afternoon’s energy committee meeting that testing in the switch yard led to the unexpected shut-off of the Unit 14 generator. The system then automatically began shutting off power to areas in sequence to balance power demand and load, thereby protecting equipment from further damage.
“It came back on very quickly and everything is covered off and working,” said Mostoway. “But we’re working to determine the cause.”
Mostoway also said the specific areas affected were not what would be typically expected, which creates another line of inquiry for officials.
Outages were reported in Redcliff, Crescent Heights, the Flats, Riverside, South Ridge, Kin Coulee and Echo Dale areas.
[…] Reference link […]