Rocky Mountain Power investigates blackout, substation fire
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EDITOR’S NOTE: EastIdahoNews.com would like to thank you for assisting our staff by providing information during yesterday’s blackout. Your support allowed us to broadcast and post updates — in conjunction with our partners at Z103, KLCE, The Hawk and KBEAR — throughout the power outage. EastIdahoNews.com is committed to being your go-to source during breaking news.
IDAHO FALLS — Rocky Mountain Power managers say they are still investigating the cause of Tuesday’s regional power blackout.
Customers in eastern Idaho, western Wyoming and southern Montana were without power for more than two hours Tuesday evening after the Goshen Substation in Shelley experienced an equipment failure. Some 58,000 Rocky Mountain customers, 27,000 Idaho Falls Power customers and thousands of Fall River Electric and Lower Valley Energy customers lost power.
The Goshen Substation, operated by Rocky Mountain Power, serves as a main feed to the other power companies in the area. This is the second time in three years the station has failed. A similar incident occurred in December 2013, when an equipment failure at the Goshen Substation resulted in approximately the same number of customers losing power for more than 10 hours in subzero conditions.
Rocky Mountain spokeswoman Margaret Oler said two issues occurred at the substation prior to Tuesday’s blackout. A capacitor bank failed and a fire occurred at the substation, which was quickly extinguished.
At this time, Oler said, it is unclear if the capacitor bank failed because of the fire, or if the failure caused the fire.
No one was injured in the fire.
A number of readers have asked EastIdahoNews.com if the outage was the result of some sort of cyberattack.
Oler said that is not the case, and that the root of the investigation is determining what caused the failure of the capacitor bank.
Preparing for future outages
Idaho Falls Power officials are preparing for any future massive power outages by working with Idaho National Laboratory on a grid-modernization project. The project focuses on how Idaho Falls can use its hydro assets and battery technology to feed some sections of the city during a large-scale grid outage.
“We will be talking more about this project in the coming months,” Idaho Falls Power General Manager Jackie Flowers said in a news release Wednesday. “Yesterday’s outage only underscored the need to complete this project and develop a plan for a potential widespread longer duration outage.”