What caused Tuesday's widespread power outage in Holland? - HollandSentinel.com
What caused Tuesday's widespread power outage in Holland?
Austin Metz
HOLLAND — Just after 1:15 p.m. Tuesday, June 20 — a clear, sunny day — reports began to circulate that residents and businesses across Holland had lost power.
In total, 9,105 customers of the Holland Board of Public Works were impacted by outages in Holland Township, Park Township and the City of Holland. Few could get through to Holland BPW, with tied up phone lines and an outage map that crashed under heavy traffic.
“Oftentimes, we know about an issue and resolve it before anyone notices,” said Holland BPW Utility Services Director Ted Siler. “We have a great team that responds to these issues quickly and gets them resolved to minimize the impact to our customers as much as possible.”
The widespread outage lasted about 45 minutes, with much of the power restored around 2 p.m. Full restoration was completed by 3:30 p.m. — according to Holland BPW. In the meantime, some companies sent home workers.
Following an investigation, Holland BPW said the outage was caused by an internal failure of electronic equipment, called a relay, that protects electrical lines and equipment at the provider's Quincy substation.
Julie DeCook, communications manager for Holland BPW, said the company replaced the relay, which allowed the impacted 138 kV loop to return to normal service.
DeCook said this was the first time the company has experienced a failure in this type of equipment. She added the provider takes part in preventative maintenance and has a testing schedule in place for all parts of their electric system.
“We annually assess our assets and make plans ... (for) replacement or updating in our capital budget plan,” DeCook wrote in an email to The Sentinel.
She added the company sees the outage, and the crashing of the outage map, as an opportunity for improvement, including a new outage map system.
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Despite posts on local happenings pages about planned outages scheduled throughout the week, shared only hours before Tuesday's widespread outage, Holland BPW assured customers the events were unrelated.
DeCook encourages residents to follow Holland BPW on Facebook, Twitter and Nextdoor for updates.
— Contact reporter Austin Metz at ametz @hollandsentinel.com.
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