Hanover, West Lebanon and surrounding areas suffered a complete failure of electrical power Saturday night after a protective relay was struck by lightening, officials at Granite State Power Company said yesterday.
Roughly half of the company's 5800 customers, including all College buildings, were without electricity from 11:07 p.m. until 12:13 a.m, according to Richard Holmes, supervisor of operations at Granite State.
The lightening triggered one of the protective relays on the transformers at the Wilder, Vt., electrical station, causing the transformer to shut down and blacking out most of the Upper Valley.
The relays are designed to shut off when they detect a problem in order to prevent irreparable damage.
Holmes said Saturday's blackout of an entire region was rare.
"It is very unusual for it [the relay] to trip the whole line," Holmes explained. "It took the whole Wilder system off the line."
In a normal blackout, only the line hit would be disconnected, Holmes said. But in this case, because the relay that detected the bolt was in the power station, the relay shut off all the circuits going out of the station.
The transformer was fully repaired by Sunday morning.
"The tests done indicate that the transformer did its job," Holmes said.
Steve Mischissin, assistant director of engineering and utilities at the College, said Dartmouth experienced a complete blackout.
An air compressor sustained minor damage due to a voltage surge in one of the buildings, Mischissin said. No other College property was damaged.
"When a power outage occurs, plant operators notify management and secure the plant until power is ready to come back," Mischissin said.
After power returns, plant operators restart all the College's generators, boilers and feeders, he added. College troubleshooters then fan out to check all the buildings.
By 3 a.m., the three troubleshooters on duty reported that everything was secure, Mischissin said.
The College does not have a backup generator, but there are plans to build one, Mischissin said.
"It is in the engineering phases and we're working on a preliminary design," he said.
Battery powered lights currently provide dim lighting in College buildings during blackouts.
College Safety and Security and the Hanover Police Department reported no injuries or accidents due to the power loss.
At Chi Heorot's "Boots and Boxers" party, the lights and the disc jockey's music blacked out with about 100 people in the house.
"Most people stayed around, hung out, and waited it out. It was no big deal," Heorot Summer President Darren Peers '96 said.
Peers said that a brother brought a battery powered radio to the basement. The radio and the emergency floodlights allowed the party to continue.
