The new line will remain in place after the problems are fixed, giving the area additional redundancy if problems arise in the future. That line allowed the utility to restore power to the businesses while it continues to make repairs at the 10th and State street vault. "If it senses a problem out there on the line, it is designed to disconnect the transformer from the line so that the transformer cannot be damaged from a fault current that's coming back at it," Meyers said.įollowing the setback, Penelec opted to run another line to affected businesses from a vault at 11th and French streets. But when they attempted to close the circuit with the repaired cables in place, a protective mechanism wouldn't allow the transformer to connect to the line.
No touching flash full#
Penelec had hoped to restore full power to the six customers by the end of the day Monday. "If you pull in a new cable, you don't want that to be nicked on those shards or else you're putting something in that's going to be damaged almost immediately," Meyers said. Crews had to chisel out the old cables before they put in new ones. The fire also melted metal cables that run through ducts between the system of vaults and manholes. "They're specialized pieces of equipment that cost a ton of money." "They're not like the transformers you see, like a cylinder on an overhead line," Meyers said.
In this case, the fire destroyed one of the two transformers in the vault. 3, or other weather conditions further prolongs the process.
Rain, like the daylong storm that drenched the region Oct. Repairing the equipment is made harder because linemen have limited space in which to work and are often near energized equipment. Underground, that energy strikes the things around it, sometimes causing a fire that can create even more damage. When transformers on overhead power lines are damaged or malfunction, the burst of energy that is expelled from the equipment dissipates into the air. The fire, as well as the length of time that was needed to repair the damage it caused, are largely the result of the transformer being located underground, as opposed to in the open air, he said. Meyers said the root cause of the switch's failure is unknown at this time. 28 in the underground vault when a switch on a transformer failed, resulting in a flash of electricity. And last week's fire - fortunately, there was no one hurt or injured - it's not surprising." "This underground network hasn't seen any improvements in decades. "It's been on our radar since day one," said John Persinger, CEO of the Erie Downtown Development Corp., which was formed in 2017 with the aim of bringing people, activity and new businesses to downtown Erie. These occurrences are not unique to Erie, Penelec spokesman Todd Meyers told the Erie Times-News last week.Īlthough Meyers said that there is no evidence that the age of the equipment or the technology is to blame for the incident, some local leaders believe it underscores a larger concern about the electrical infrastructure in downtown Erie. Malfunctioning electrical equipment led to temporary, widespread outages downtown in 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2015.įrom 2019: Underground fire closes two blocks of State Street in Erieįrom 2018: Downtown power outage resolved after three hoursįrom 2017: Portion of Erie streets shut down as officials investigate smoke
28 incident was not the first time a piece of underground electrical equipment has failed and, in some cases, caused a fire in downtown Erie.
And do I hope that the utility is taking measures to prevent this from happening again? Absolutely." Am I concerned about our tenants not being able to access the building for the last week? Absolutely. Do I wish it was going quicker? Absolutely. "It's not like the Penelec guys haven't been trying," Peters said Tuesday, "but it doesn't lessen the pain. I've watched these guys working very diligently to try to restore power. It's the first time in recent memory that the Renaissance Centre has been without power for an extended period, said Chuck Peters, managing partner of Altair Holdings LLC, an Erie-based real estate firm that operates the building.
0 kommentar(er)
