Thousands on the Kenai Peninsula lost power Sunday after a power plant in Anchorage went offline.
Mary Bowe, public relations strategist for Homer Electric Association — which serves about 37,000 locations — said five circuits went offline.
“At the peak time, it was 4200 customers, ranging from out East End Road in Homer to Kasilof,” Bowe said.
She said the outage triggered the grid’s automatic protections.
“The load shed event is when certain circuits will go offline to protect the grid from larger outages and more damage,” Bowe said.
Since the Railbelt grid connects utilities from Fairbanks to the Kenai Peninsula, issues up north — like this one — can affect delivery down south.
Chugach Electric, the Anchorage-based utility, posted online that one of its power plants tripped offline around 3 p.m. Sunday, causing outages for multiple utilities across the Railbelt. HEA’s outage map shows power was restored later that day.
Bowe said events like Sunday’s are a reminder to keep emergency supplies on hand and check HEA’s website or social media for updates.
