Power outage not related to higher demand, says Hydro VP

A power outage that began around 11:35 p.m. Tuesday was caused by an unexpected shutdown of the No. 3 generator at the Holyrood thermal generating station, but was not related to an increase in demand, says an official with Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro.

The incident affected roughly 17,000 customers with Newfoundland Power across much of the island portion of the province, and took place as temperatures plunged below minus 10 C in many areas.

The generator was back online around 3 a.m., though most customers had their power restored in about 20 minutes, said Rob Henderson, vice-president of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro.

The outage frayed nerves as the one-year anniversary of #darknl approaches.

We are confident in our system and confident in our people to respond quickly.- Rob Henderson

Last year's extended power outages during an especially cold stretch shattered many peoples' confidence in the power system, and prompted Hydro to invest heavily into system upgrades, including a new back-up combustion turbine that's expected to come online in Holyrood in the coming days.

Henderson blamed Tuesday night's incident on a malfunction of the auxiliary steam steam system in the No. 3 generator.

He said this system helps with the movement and combustion of fuel oil in the generator's burner.

According to Henderson, the system detected a problem and automatically tripped the unit.

He stressed that the incident was not related to a higher demand caused by colder temperatures, and that crews responded quickly.

Henderson said the corporation continued to generate enough electricity to meet demand.

He described the power system as very complex, and said problems will occur from time to time. 

"We are confident in our system and confident in our people to respond quickly," he said.