Maritime Electric said an osprey came into contact with some power lines knocking out power for more than 18,000 customers in western P.E.I. on Aug. 5. Photo by Logan maclean /logan macleanArticle contentMaritime Electric says an osprey came into contact with some power lines that knocked out power for more than 27,000 customers on Aug. 5.THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.Subscribe now to access this story and more:Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsSUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES.Subscribe or sign in to your account to continue your reading experience.Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsRegister to unlock more articles.Create an account or sign in to continue your reading experience.Access additional stories every monthShare your thoughts and join the conversation in our commenting communityGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorArticle contentKim Griffin, spokesperson with the utility, said Aug. 6 that the outage initially affected customers from Hunter River to the western tip of P.E.I.Article contentArticle contentGriffin said the initial outage lasted 12 minutes but Maritime Electric was able to restore power to all but 18,000 customers.Article contentArticle contentThe balance of the utility’s customers were back on at 9:50 p.m., including those in Alberton, O’Leary, Wellington and St. Eleanors.Article content“Our crews found an osprey got into the transmission lines and when the osprey got into the transmission lines the system didn’t know what it was coming in contact with, so it shut itself off,” Griffin told The Guardian.Article contentMaritime Electric opened its call centre and gave updates on the hour when a crew found the osprey at the Sherbrooke substation.Article contentThat substation is being checked again on Aug. 6.Article contentSummerside customers impactedArticle contentThe outage impacted all customers in Summerside.Article contentTanner Doiron, acting director of communications for the City of Summerside, said the city was notified by numerous customers at 7:45 p.m. that power was out.Article contentSummerside’s utility dispatched a crew to investigate and 20 minutes later arrived at the Sherbrooke substation.Article contentArticle content“They assessed the situation and came to the conclusion that it was a Maritime Electric issue from power feeding to our lines from the Sherbrooke substation,” Doiron said.Article contentArticle contentThe Summerside utility’s next step was ensuring nothing was damaged to its circuits before coming up with a plan to restore power. At this point, the utility was not aware of the osprey.Article contentDoiron said Summerside typically starts its power plant and generators across the city, a process that can take time because on-call crews have to be called in.Article content“They’ve got to get the generators hooked up and they have to go to all the different substations we have and, from there, disperse to different circuits.”Article contentSome power restoredArticle contentPower was restored to seven of the circuits by 9:20 p.m., enough to generate power to run Prince County Hospital and various other emergency services.
Osprey causes power outage, 27,000 without electricity in western P.E.I.
