Failed substation causes power outage

UT Substation Power Outage disrupted service for about 1,200 KUB customers; crews rerouted the grid after a lightning arrester failure near Fort Sanders, restoring electricity while repairs proceed on the campus distribution system.

KUB workers completed repairs on failed equipment that left the University of Tennessee and the Fort Sanders area without electrical service for 90 minutes.

Workers were able to reroute the power grid, which restored service to customers while work continued to correct the cause of the outage.

KUB spokeswoman Grace Whiteside said about 1,200 customers were impacted by the outage that began at 12:20 a.m. March 23.

Because UT has its own power distribution system, KUB counts the campus as a single customer, Whiteside said.

The outage, she said, was "caused by equipment failure at the lightning arrester at the UT substation."

Although the lightning arrester is designed to lessen the damaging effects of an electrical surge cause by lightning, Whiteside said there was no indication the substation was struck this morning by lightning.

Cold snaps can push power usage up and increase strain on local systems.

"It could have been related to damage from previous storms," she said.

Workers restored electrical service to the Fort Sanders and Cumberland Avenue area by 1:50 a.m. Work, however, continues on completing repairs on the failed equipment.

UT Police Department Capt. Keith Lambert said officers immediately searched all the elevators on campus for any trapped people. None was found.

Other than students streaming out of the dormitories during the blackout period, Lambert said there were no problems encountered because of the outage.

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