Update, 4:30 p.m.:
Juneau is back on hydroelectric power, according to a Facebook post from AEL&P. The source of the outage is still unknown at this time.
Update, 2:58 p.m.:
AEL&P was able to send a helicopter to patrol the line, but has so far been unable to identify the source of the outage.
Original story:
The power went out across Juneau for about an hour on Friday afternoon after the connection to its main hydroelectricity source failed. The city will be on backup power until the main line is restored.
Alaska Electric Light & Power said the outage was due to a fault on the connection line to the Snettisham Hydroelectric Project. AEL&P does not yet know what happened to the line.
Debbie Driscoll, a spokesperson for the company, said power will come from the Lake Dorothy hydroelectric source and backup diesel generators until the line is repaired. The timeline of the repair depends on when helicopters can safely fly.
“I mean, the wind is howling. I don’t know how it is where you are currently, but like in Lemon Creek, it’s bad,” she said. “There’s the possibility that there’s going to be additional outages for different reasons.”
She said AEL&P staff initially managed the response from their cell phones – the outage meant their computers were down.
Deputy City Manager Robert Barr said the city would take action if the main line is down for an extended period. He, too, spoke to KTOO from a darkened office.
Grocery stores remained open, but shoppers were in the dark. At Foodland IGA, Manager Kelly Leamer opened the automatic front doors with his hands to let people inside the darkened grocery store. Staff held up big flashlights pointed at the deli counter and salad bar and customers wandered aisles with cell phone lights in hand.
Local restaurants adapted to the lunchtime outage. McGiveny’s in the Valley had to shut off their grill, but they kept serving the soup of the day and salad. Manager Tami Wahto said she’s used to things like this happening in Juneau — weather outages and delays — but she just wanted the power to come back on in time for the Mike Tyson and Jake Paul fight this afternoon.
Driscoll said she couldn’t recall the last time there was an area-wide outage. But, in 2008 a set of avalanches wiped out towers to the Snettisham line and the city went without hydroelectric power for nearly two months.
It forced Juneau residents to switch to diesel generators and find ways to conserve electricity. Electricity costs jumped by 500%. Driscoll said customers shouldn’t expect to see changes in their rates from this outage, as long as it’s short.
