Power outage darkens Valley

June 27, 2006

By JOEL DAVIDSON

Frontiersman

MAT-SU - Just after 9 p.m. on Sunday night, a mysterious &#8220power disruption” occurred along a main transmission line between Fairbanks and Anchorage. The event caused a segment of power line to de-energize, triggering a domino effect that darkened homes and businesses from Healy to Homer.

The cause of the outage is still unknown, said Phil Steyer, manager of government and external affairs for Chugach Electric Association.

Steyer said he was aware of an alleged lightning strike south of Healy, but as of Monday afternoon he could not positively identify that as the cause of the outage.

High voltage lines carry power up and down the Railbelt through a patchwork of power plants that connect to substations and ultimately trickle down into individual homes and businesses. When Sunday's event destabilized the main transmission system, it caused a chain of power systems, from main plants to substations, to flip off line.

&#8220A piece of the transmission system was de-energized and that caused breakers to open,” Steyer explained. &#8220In some cases, it led to whole power plants going off line and customers going in the dark.”

Chugach Electric Associa-tion provides 100 percent of the power to Matanuska Electric Association, which in turn sells electricity to more than 50,000 customers in the Mat-Su.

Most Mat-Su residents were without power for three to four hours, said Kim Floyd, MEA's manager of government and corporate communications.

&#8220We went down at 9:15 p.m., Floyd confirmed. &#8220Fifty thousand customers all went out - our entire grid was down.”

The blackout lasted until just after midnight, early Monday morning, when Settlers Bay and Point MacKenzie residents were the first to see light. Shortly after 1 a.m., the final homes came online in the Shaw's Tri-Lake Subdivision area.

Steyer doesn't expect to know a definitive cause of the outage for a few more days. First, officials from various power companies need to thoroughly review a 60-page computer printout of the event.

&#8220The report says exactly what happened where and when, down to a fraction of a second,” he said. &#8220It is a volume of information that we have to sit down and analyze. It's too soon to tell what the outcome will be.”

Contact Joel Davidson at

352-2266 or joel.davidson@ frontiersman.com.