When he looked out the window, SaskPower president and CEO Mike Marsh knew things were serious.
While speaking to Estevan Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, he spoke of what the big blackout two days before was like, from his perspective.
Marsh said, “We had an eventful Tuesday, here in Saskatchewan. It was one of those days I think many of us in this room haven’t seen in a lifetime, or at least in the length of the careers that many of us have had. In my entire 27 years with SaskPower, I haven’t seen anything as big as we saw Tuesday.
“What happened, starting last Thursday, actually, when the frost started to come into the province, we began to see the frost build up in our transmission and distribution system.
“I’m not sure many of you are aware, but the main transmission line from Boundary (Dam) to Regina is out of service right now, and has been for the last few days. Why? Because the structures at the top of those towers have fallen over. They’ve collapsed, under the weight of the frost on the lines. So that line is out of service.
“We knew that, as the front continued to move into the southeast, the line coming out of Poplar River began to trip. Once that happens, it causes issues on the entire grid stability, which resulted in a cascade back into the power stations. If the power has nowhere to go, then the units shut off, and that’s what happened Tuesday morning at 9:03. I know, because I was in a meeting and the lights went out, in Regina.
“I got up and looked out the window and the entire city was black, and I had never seen that in all the years that I had been in Regina. So I knew we were into it.
“We were on the phone within seconds. We were on the phone with our grid control operations centre. We were on the phone, listening to what was going on as we begin to assess the situation. And we began to understand this wasn’t just three transmission lines down, now. We had about 12, at that moment. By mid-afternoon, over 30 transmission lines and main distribution feeders had been affected and had been out.
“Before lunch, we had mobilized all of our distribution staff, all of our transmission staff, every construction and contractor we had in the province was out there, working for the remainder of that day.
“So, credit to the entire team. Patience from our customers like you. We were able to get the grid back into what we call a stable situation where we can start some of the generation plants back into service and load up the grid again. By 10:30 at night, we finally brought Carnduff, Carlyle and Oxbow back into service. They were the last three communities.”
