WI:System disruption causes temporary power outage

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System disruption causes temporary power outage

The Daily Press

About 11,000 customers across Bayfield and Ashland counties and the Ironwood, Mich. area were temporarily without power Wednesday.

Xcel Energy (formerly Northern States Power) company officials say the cause was a failure in a transmission line between Superior and Ashland. Power was restored to all customers in an hour or less.

The line going to the company's Bay Front power plant in Ashland failed at 1:03 p.m. That failure resulted caused electrical frequencies to drop to low levels. Major problems can result throughout the system if power levels are not maintained at a specific and constant level.

In order to restore power to normal levels the system automatically began a process of "load shedding," shutting down certain areas to stabilize the system.

Xcel restored power to customers in the Ironwood area, which includes Bessemer, Wakefield and Berglund, by 1:13 p.m. The company returned power to people in the Ashland, Mellen, Bayfield and Washburn areas at 1:58 p.m.

Xcel engineers will investigate the incident to determine the cause of the power failure.

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), August 31, 2000


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