Lights out in Vancouver for third day
Some areas of Vancouver downtown are experiencing power outage since yesterday. They said fire at the underground of Richard street that caused the problem. This picture was taken at 7-Eleven store in the area — From http://flickr.com/photos/antonypranata/2671979512/
Unprecedented outage caused by circuit failure keeps more than 1,000 stores, businesses and buildings in the dark
B.C. Hydro blamed a continuing blackout affecting more than 1,000 clients in downtown Vancouver on a circuit failure in an underground cable splice, but yesterday’s answer did little to help some businesses expecting to be left in the dark for a third day as work continued to try to fix the problem.
Stores and businesses remained locked. Some posted handwritten signs saying they wouldn’t be opening again until power returned.
“There will be some negative net impact on a number of service businesses. It’s revenue they won’t be able to recoup over the balance of the year. It’s gone,” said Jock Finlayson, executive vice-president of policy for the Business Council of British Columbia.
Some council members dropped by the organization’s downtown office, where the lights were on, to ask to use computers and other equipment. Other companies told workers to stay home.
… sabotage probably wasn’t the cause.
Yesterday, B.C. Hydro showed reporters one of the 14 splices that had burned. It was a blackened, twisted series of metal wires, bound together in insulated tubes. Photos from the burned-out vault showed a contorted mess of cables, fraying and melted into one another.
B.C. Hydro was able to restore power to some buildings by switching to alternate circuits, but workers are now pulling out burned cables and replacing them with up to four kilometres of new cables.
The area’s sheer density means the impact of the outage is heightened, and convoluted circuitry means some buildings have power while their neighbours do not.
Vancouver police promised to keep officers in the area as required until power returned, but said there had been no problems with looting or other issues.
Yesterday’s continuing problems in Vancouver coincided with a 90-minute blackout in Kamloops linked to an explosion in a substation blamed on a failed circuit breaker.
B.C. Energy Minister Richard Neufeld said he was not going to draw any early conclusions on the Vancouver situation before reading a full analysis by Hydro.
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Power back in downtown Vancouver
After working around the clock since Monday, BC Hydro crews have restored power to all customers after Monday’s underground fire in downtown Vancouver.
According to a news release, BC Hydro restored power to approximately 100 customers during the day on Wednesday, with another 100 customers re-energized overnight, bringing all affected customers back into service.
“It should be full business as usual for downtown Vancouver this morning,” said Gary Rodford, senior vice president of field operations. “I can’t say enough about our crews that worked many long hours to get the job done.”
