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For immediate release
May 12, 2010 at 9:25am
For more information, contact
Patti Bogan 762-4736 (desk), 242-0704 (cell)

Chugach customers experience wind-related outage

Strong winds have caused several power outages for Chugach Electric Association customers since Monday.

On Monday, May 10, an outage at 11 p.m. left 16 Hillside locations without power for about three hours. At 11:14 p.m. an O'Malley Substation breaker tripped and reclosed, causing a momentary disruption for 617 customers.

A power outage Tuesday, May 11, left about 120 customers served by the Portage Substation without power for about six hours. A circuit breaker near the Portage Substation tripped off-line at 6:50 a.m. A Chugach crew was dispatched, patrolled the line, and suspected high winds caused two conductors to slap together, creating an electrical fault and subsequent outage. Power was restored to all customers by 1:06 p.m.

Tuesday afternoon, about 200 customers served by the Hope Substation lost power. Crews were dispatched and removed trees from the line and repaired downed power lines. Power was restored at 5:53 p.m.

The National Weather Service reported winds as high as 68-to-77 mph Tuesday along Turnagain Arm.

Chugach is the largest electric utility in Alaska, providing power for Alaskans throughout the Railbelt through retail, wholesale and economy energy sales.