Entergy, device manufacturer explain Super Bowl blackout

Not long after Entergy New Orleans announced this morning that a faulty relay—an electrical device that had been installed expressly to prevent a power outage—was the cause of the 34-minute Super Bowl blackout, the Chicago-based manufacturer issued a statement blaming the outage to the so-called trip setting on the relay, “as set by the system operators.” The statement from S&C Electric Co. does not name the “system operators,” but the equipment was owned and installed by Entergy New Orleans. S&C says the trip setting was too low to allow the device to handle the electric load that was coming in. “Based on the on-site testing, we have determined that if higher settings had been applied, the equipment would not have disconnected the power,” says Michael J.S. Edmonds, vice president of strategic solutions for the company. In a follow-up statement, Entergy says, “Tests conducted by S&C and Entergy on the two relays installed at the Superdome [show] that one relay functioned as expected and the other relay did not.” Entergy spokesman Mike Burns, who released the statement, did not have an immediate answer today when asked by The Associated Press if both relays had the same trip setting. Entergy’s announcement came shortly before officials appeared before a committee of the New Orleans City Council, which is the regulatory body for the company, to answer questions about the outage. The full story is here.