October 12 Vancouver Island Outage Explained

INFORMATION BULLETIN
BC Transmission Corporation
October 20, 2008
For immediate release

October 12 Vancouver Island Outage

VANCOUVER – BCTC has determined that a fault on a transmission line in Victoria was the triggering event that caused the protection and control system to shut off power to the Southern Vancouver Island area.

Similar to a household circuit breaker tripping, the protection and control system shut off power to the area where irregularities were detected in Victoria and there was a cascading effect. BCTC has made adjustments to the protection and control system so that similar faults will not result in a widespread outage in the future.

Through the efforts of line crews and staff who operate the provincial electricity system, power was restored within 90 minutes to Southern Vancouver Island on October 12th.

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MEDIA CONTACT:
BCTC Public Affairs
604.699.7298
www.bctc.com

BCTC News Release, 20-Oct-2008

See Vancouver Island power outage leaves thousands in the dark