Lights back on in Pictou County
Problem at Trenton generating station caused by failed breaker
Power is back on for Nova Scotia Power customers in Pictou County less than one day after a breaker at the Trenton power plant substation failed.
NS Power said the breaker failed at about 3:50 p.m. Wednesday, causing oil to spill and coat other equipment nearby. This resulted in power being shut off to more than 31,000 people.
“Safety is always our top priority, so now that power is restored to customers we will be reviewing all aspects of this incident and the equipment to determine what happened,” said NS Power spokeswoman Tiffany Chase.
When the breaker failed, a plume of smoke could be seen at the Trenton plant and emergency crews swiftly responded. A fire truck and NS Power’s own repair vehicles were spotted at the scene.
NS Power personnel were onsite to assess the damage at Trenton and start repairs. Chase said that repair work on the damaged breaker would be completed Thursday.
As of 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, about 25,000 customers saw their power restored, but another 5,500 people in Pictou and New Glasgow were still without electricity Thursday morning.
Chase said that a power line serving these 5,500 customers was contaminated by oil from the failed breaker and needed cleaning by technicians before it could be reactivated.
The area affected by Wednesday night’s outage included Pictou County, Sheet Harbour and the Musquodoboit Valley.
“There were no injuries as a result of this failure,” said Chase.
She said that a power plant breaker is basically a much bigger version of the circuit breakers found in homes.
In big substations, breakers are used to stop any short circuits or overload currents on a power network, protecting other electrical equipment from damage by “tripping” the system if needed.
In smaller substations, reclosure breakers are installed to automatically close it after a fault is detected.
Many short circuits on overhead power lines clear themselves, allowing reclosers to keep up a steady electrical supply by automatically restoring power after a minor fault.