By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Lakefront Utilities Inc. reports that Wednesday night’s storm resulted in a 5:13 a.m. power outage for some 4,943 customers in the Town of Cobourg.
Operation crews were dispatched immediately after alarms were received through Lakefront’s Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition and SmartMAP software indicated equipment failure at the Victoria substation. SCADA data indicated that the main circuit breaker at the substation tripped due to a fault current.
While investigation went on, operation crews performed necessary switching to restore power to the affected customers by shifting load from the Victoria substation to the Brook substation. Switching was completed by 6:43 a.m., restoring power to all customers.
Further investigation at the Victoria substation determined that heavy rainfall water got into the switchgear through the roof, causing a fault in the 27.6kV that resulted in significant equipment damage. A third-party contractor is on site to analyze and repair the water leak, as well as to repair damage to the electrical equipment All the 27.6kV load is currently on the Brook substation until this work is complete. Constant monitoring at the Brook substation will ensure it is not overloaded.
In its press release, President and Chief Executive Officer Dereck Paul said, “Lakefront would like to thank our dedicated team for working safely and quickly, during the early morning storm, to restore power within 90 minutes.
“Despite the continual investments Lakefront makes in our local distribution system, power outages are a reality during storms and, as such, Lakefront encourages our customers to always have a 72-hour emergency kit prepared.”
Lakefront Utilities takes pride in its achievements as a locally owned utility, the press release continued, committed to providing reliable services that contribute to the comfort and safety of the community. Moreover, its reliability statistics continue to exceed industry standards.
For more information, visit https://www.lakefrontutilities.com/financial
