With an ice storm approaching, San Juan Islands residents were left in the dark overnight Thursday after a county-wide power failure. Crews had restored power to much of the islands by late Friday morning and were working in harsh conditions for full restoration.
The outage, blamed on equipment failure on the mainland, began around 5 p.m. Thursday. The islands run on Bonneville Power Administration electricity delivered by Puget Sound Energy via Orcas Power and Light Co-op (OPALCO).
PSE Media Specialist Andrew Padula said Thursday night that the failure was in the line that connects PSE to Bonneville Power.
Mainland repairs were made by 2 a.m. Friday, OPALCO reported. High demand due to the subfreezing temperatures was expected to cause other issues in the power grid upon restoration, OPALCO noted.
Workers continued to restart individual neighborhoods throughout Friday morning, in freezing-rain conditions.
“As we reenergized member households, the large draw of the heating load was too much for some of the smaller equipment,” the Co-op said in a 10 a.m. Friday update. “Our crews are rocking it out there in less than ideal conditions. We don’t have restoration times but will keep at it until everyone is back in power.”
The OPALCO outage map at 11 a.m. Friday showed 120 customers without power in Friday Harbor, as well as small numbers at Lime Kiln, Olga, Orcas Golf Course and School/Lopez Sound Road.
The energy co-op said its outage map would be updated every 10 minutes as work continues.
