Substation difficulties lead to blackouts in Ash Grove

Initial problems resolved, but ‘crews will continue to monitor the equipment’
 
About 4,000 people living in the Ash Grove, Bois D’Arc Walnut Grove, and Willard area were bedeviled by two power outages in as many weeks when the Liberty Utilities substation in Ash Grove sustained damage.

First blackout believed to be caused by high winds
The first power outage, which happened on March 5, was caused when an electrical crossarm broke, causing the substation to shut down.
“The broken crossarm, also referred to as a ‘fault in the system’, caused the substation to stop feeding power to the line,” said Jillian Curtis, a specialist in Liberty Utilities Regional Communications department. “Electric equipment in the substation is designed to do this when there is a fault to prevent further damage to equipment or a potential fire or safety hazard. When this happened, some fuses were blown within a transformer in the substation.”
Curtis added that the crossarm was believed to have been broken by unusually strong winds.
“Wind is the most likely cause of the damage, as we have no indication of other causes,” she said.
There were some delays in repairing the station, Curtis said, as the repair crews had to make certain that it was safe to operate the substation again, but power was restored by 9:30 p.m. that evening.
“To restore power to all customers, crews first had to make equipment repairs and then run tests to ensure that the electrical equipment was safe to use again,” she said. “After this process was completed, crews were able to restore power safely.”

Cause of second blackout undetermined
The second blackout hit the area on March 13, this time leaving about 2,400 people without power that evening. Curtis said the cause for this blackout appeared to be more of a mechanical issue.
“While crews did repair the electrical equipment within the transformer on Saturday, March 5, we did have another unplanned outage … that impacted the same area as the first outage,” she said. “Crews checked the substation equipment and the issue appeared to be fuse related. They were unable to determine what impacted the fuse to cause the outage but made necessary adjustments to the equipment and restored power safely. Crews will continue to monitor the equipment.”

Curtis said Liberty tries to prevent blackouts
Curtis said that Liberty understands their customers frustrations at the blackouts, but that they are sometimes beyond anyone’s control. She also said that the utility company had resources available on their website to help customers prepare for blackouts.
“We understand that outages can be an inconvenience for our customers,” she said. “While we never want an outage to happen, sometimes they cannot be prevented or predicted. Some common outage causes outside the control of a utility are weather, vehicle collisions, and wildlife interference. It is always important to have a plan in place in case of a loss of electricity. We have outage preparedness resources on our website, www.libertyenergyandwater.com.”
Additionally, Curtis also said that Liberty constantly strives to make improvements to their system so they can avoid most blackouts and quickly deal with the ones that do occur.
“In order to prevent outages, shorten the duration of outages when they do occur, and strengthen our system, we perform regular system inspections and make investments to improve our infrastructure,” she said.