Back on the grid

Prince Rupert is once again connected to the provincial power grid, after BC Hydro workers replaced a transmission tower, taken down by a recent avalanche between Prince Rupert and Terrace.

Since the incident earlier this month, Prince Rupert has been operating on back up generators fueled by natural gas, which kept the city's power supply up to speed but left our clocks running a little off.

The Daily News had a brief blurb on the return to power in the Friday paper.

City back running on mains power again
The Daily News
Published: Friday, April 20, 2007


Time should be back on track now that B.C. Hydro has repaired the tower taken out in early April in an avalanche.

Clocks were running fast as the North Coast was being powered by two natural gas generators that operated on a different slightly different frequency.

However a B.C. Hydro spokesperson confirmed the tower has been replaced and Prince Rupert is once again hooked up to the grid.

On our own steam, for three or four weeks

Our power needs are in our own hands it seems, BC Hydro has set up two thermal generators that run on natural gas to provide the electricity needs for the North Coast while they repair the transmission tower toppled by an avalanche on Monday.

Prince Rupert was knocked off the provincial grid on Monday and dealt with a black out for two to three hours while BC Hydro could get their two thermal generators up and on line by mid Monday.

While there is no anticipation of further problems to the Rupert power supply until the repairs are made, BC Hydro is asking residents of the North coast to conserve their power so as to enable the generators to keep up to demand and provide a steady supply of power to the community.

The Daily News had full details on the power outage and BC Hydro’s temporary fix in the Tuesday edition.

GENERATORS POWERING CITY AFTER HYDRO LINE SEVERED
Repairs are likely to take three weeks, people urged to conserve energy
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Pages one and three

The North Coast is no longer connected to the provincial hydro grid after a snow slide took out a large metal transmission tower.

Dave Conway, community relations manager for Northern B. C., said the slide Monday morning took out the tower and respective power lines, leaving Prince Rupert and Port Edward without power until a generator could be brought on line.

“We have two thermal generating stations in the Prince Rupert area,” said Conway. “At this time, Prince Rupert and the surrounding area are receiving their electrical supply from these generators.

“We are asking customers t use their power conservatively, to be power smart and turn off tings they aren’t using. We are not anticipating any further disruptions in service.”

The generators produce enough power to supply the community using natural gas.

“If (customers being power smart) takes a load off the generators. The more electricity people use, the more load it puts on the generators,” he said.

“If we lose the generators and until we get the transmission tower and the transmission lines back in place, there will be no electricity supply until we can get the generator back up, but we don’t anticipate any service problems.”

It will take three weeks to repair the damage from the slide, which is being described by the Canadian Avalanche Association as a mid-sized avalanche.

The two generators will provide 45 megawatts, however the supply is at a slightly higher frequency than the usual current.

“What that means is that any equipment that is sensitive electrical equipment, it can affect it, but what most people will notice is that their clocks will run faster,” said Conway.

A wet heavy snow storm last week brought the city to standstill, with power and cable outages, that were largely required by Thursday afternoon.

In Terrace and the Nass Valley, the snowfall was even heavier, with almost a half a metre of snow falling and power outages lasting several days.

According to the Canadian Avalanche Association, avalanches can occur after snow storms when the weather warms up.

On the upside, at least Shames Mountain has a good snow base for spring skiing.

The mountain currently has a meter of snow over an existing five metre base. They can no longer give an accurate reading of snow pack mid mountain, because the gauge has disappeared under the pack, but they estimate the snow pack at more than 600 centimetres.

Environment Canada is currently predicting sun until Thursday when it will begin to rain in Prince Rupert, with highs around five or six degrees and more snow in Terrace on Thursday and rain on Friday.

Rupert power back up, region now powered by back up generator

Monday morning brought yet another new adventure to the North coast, as a snow slide took out a BC Hydro Transmission tower on the main power line between Prince Rupert and Terrace, plunging the city into yet another power outage to start off the week.

The power went out at around 8:40 am and with the exception of a brief tease of lights at 9:35 stayed out until 10 am in some parts of town and until after 11 in most of the city.

The unexpected interruption meant that public schools dismissed students early on in the power outage and closed the schools for the day, much to the chagrin of students at the Independent School Annunciation which had regular classes right through until 3 pm.

And once again Rupert businesses had to make do with flashlights and more disruption to their daily schedules, while drivers tried to make sense of the four way stop rule that is supposed to come into effect at stop lights during power outages but doesn’t always work out that way.

And while last week we were singing the praises of the CBC as the only available source of information during the snow storm, Monday saw them join the rest of the area's media services rendered out of service due to the citywide blackout.

The BC Hydro website tracked all of the areas affected by the disruption and provided a log of sorts as to what had happened and when the power would return, which of course was of little comfort to the locals who had no power to keep their computers logged on.

BC Hydro expects that the repairs to the transmission site will take three weeks or so and is urging local residents to use only the power that they truly need around their homes and businesses.

You may also notice that your clocks will be running rather fast as the back up generator is in operation, the Podunkian clocks were already running some thirty minutes ahead of time as the day was winding down, which is a good thing if your day is going rather lousy, not so good if it’s one of those days you would want to last.