APUA Says Kite Caused Power Outage

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The Antigua Public Utilities Authority, APUA, says the investigation into the cause of the electricity outage on Sunday April 28th to Monday April 29th, 2019 has been completed.

At approximately 10:52 pm on Sunday April 28th, 2019, 4 Substations lost power which resulted in the loss of electricity service to approximately 50% of the electrical grid. A team was assembled immediately and carried out an inspection of the lines in the affected areas.

The all-clear was given at 1:59am, Monday, April 29th, 2019, all substations were re-energized and electricity was restored to the affected areas. The APUA Electricity Business Unit launched a full investigation on Monday April 29th, to determine the cause of the unplanned outage.

The investigation concludes that the cause of the outage originated between the Belmont and Swetes Substations on the 69 KV line (the major circuit connecting the power plants to the substations).

Debris was found on the 69 KV line and it is suspected to be the remnants of a kite. The 69 KV line is suspended approximately 60-70 ft above ground. This outage has been classified as a temporary fault.

This means that there is no clear indication of an outage of this nature re-occurring.
The APUA Electricity Business Unit would like to encourage persons to avoid flying kites, drones or any other electronic or non-electronic flying objects near the power lines. In the event that a kite becomes entangled in the power lines, this can result in severe casualties or fatalities.

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6 COMMENTS

  1. Apua do you realize that 95 percent of Antiguans stayed in school. If a kite was the cause of the outage please send back the person who conducted the investigation back to school, because am wondering how did that person got a job at apua if they don’t know the difference between conductors and insulators. If a kite was the main cause of outage, we would be having one everyday. As far back as I can remember kites are made of wood and plastic or bamboo and cloth. Even if the kite poles were made of metal they would melt instantly without causing any damage to a 69 kv line. In my conclusion the only kite that would have cause such outage is the recreation kites capable of carrying a human. I believe we should look for human remains around that power line.

    • It was wet from rain falling or made of a light-weight conductor when it came in contact with the lines. Old equipment failure is a bit more acceptable to me.

  2. Does anyone know if it was a kite in flight or a burst kite that caused it since it makes a difference!

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