Lights out in Iqaluit after power equipment fails
Outage leaves part of city in the dark for about 3 hours Thursday
Part of Iqaluit sits in darkness after an equipment failure caused a power outage Thursday afternoon. (Photo by Daron Letts)
Updated March 2 at 3:30 p.m.
An equipment failure inside an electrical enclosure is being blamed for a three-hour power outage that left Iqaluit residents in the dark for much of Thursday afternoon.
A built-in protection device automatically shut the line down to protect generators and prevent a larger outage shortly before 2 p.m., said Tina Mandeya, director of community affairs for Qulliq Energy Corp.
“While we understand how frustrating outages can be, these safety systems are designed to protect our employees, the public, and critical infrastructure,” she said in an email Friday.
“Our crews responded as quickly and safely as possible to restore power.”
Ten crew members worked to repair the outage, Mandeya said, including line crew, plant operators, technicians and support staff.
Apex, Tundra Valley, Happy Valley, Road to Nowhere and Lower Iqaluit including building numbers in the 100s to 300s, were all affected by the outage.
Lights began flickering just after 4 p.m. and power was fully restored at 5 p.m., shortly after sunset.
Note: This story was corrected to note the neighbourhoods affected by the power outage. A previous version indicated Tundra Ridge was among them
Why is this even news? It’s normal to have power failures in NU, just look at all other communities. Oh wait, I forgot, the world revolves around Iqaluit
It’s news as this is not the normal in Iqaluit. The outages in other communities don’t make the news because, as you put it, “it’s normal”.
This winter has had endless outages.
This might be normal for some backwoods operation, but for a ‘city’ it’s not.
Furnaces have to run for hours after an outage as houses become cold to the core.
Higher power rates seems to mean higher outage rates.
That’s quite the news from Iqaluit! Three
In small communities, power building is loud with loud chimneys. Right in the middle of town too. No safety in place for their customers. Hope they fix that foe safety of the customers. Always paying but not safe.
This has become normal in Iqaluit, any high winds, freezing rain, or old equipment and parts, we keep getting power outages.
I don’t think the power infrastructure can keep up to all the new buildings being put up in Iqaluit, huge office buildings, apartment buildings, has there been any reviews done about this?
Hydro power would be nice to keep up with the demands and a stable power source.