Citywide power outage affects 100,000 households

“I believe that the power supply from the Southern Power Grid Company to Macau has been stable and reliable over the past few years”, Bernie Leong

Roughly 100,000 users of the region’s electricity provider, Companhia de Electricidade de Macau (CEM), experienced a power outage yesterday morning to varying extents.  The outage was triggered by an abrupt short-circuit at a transformer substation located in the northern district of Canal Dos Patos.
The citywide power cut, which occurred at around 10.55 a.m., resulted in continuous interruptions of communication services and computer systems, as well as the malfunctioning of traffic lights in the city’s central and northern regions. It affected the central and northern parts of the Macau peninsula, including Zona Nova de Aterros do Porto Exterior, Horta e Costa and the Central districts as well as the Hengqin campus of the University of Macau.
More than seventy cases of people being trapped in elevators during the period in which electricity supplies were cut-off have also been reported, according to the fire service authorities.
In addition, the incident forced some banks, restaurants and schools in the affected areas to close earlier, with business operations also affected by the power shortage. However, according to announcements made in a cross-department press conference shortly after the utility company managed to restore a normal supply of power to the city in an hour and a half and no major incidents  have been reported. Four people who were stuck in lifts were sent to hospital for treatment, yet all were unharmed and in good condition.
During the press conference, the head of the Office for the Development of the Energy Sector, Arnaldo Santos, told media that what the authorities considered a “rare incident” was due to four other transformer substations subsequently malfunctioning.  This occurred after part of the so-called “110KV switch” at the north substation went on the blink. He also said that it might take at least one week for the utility company to produce a preliminary report into the power failure, and a detailed report would need almost a month to be completed. The Government Spokesperson Office issued a statement saying that these reports have been requested.
So far, the company’s technical team has already pinpointed the exact location of the malfunctioned part inside the power substation. However, they still remain uncertain over the cause and the magnitude of the damage suffered by the equipment. “Basically we have found out the malfunction point, yet it was within the switch equipment. We were still unsure of the situation of the damaged part inside and its cause,” said the utility company’s senior manager Billy Chan during a site visit for media purposes yesterday afternoon. He also added that later the company would conduct an in-depth examination into the broken equipment with its manufacturer in order to devise the most suitable repair scheme.No issues had been detected in advance in the equipment that caused the failure, according to Billy Chan.
CEM denied that such a massive power outage was attributable to unstable power supply from the mainland power provider, China Southern Power Grid Company, from which around 90 percent of the city’s power originates.
The chairman of the utility company’s executive committee, Bernie Leong, who was also present at yesterday’s press conference, said: “I believe that the power supply from the Southern Power Grid Company to Macau has been stable and reliable over the past few years. From the technical and commercial perspective, [the partnership] we think should continue.” He also added that the massive blackout was a lesson from which to learn in order to improve their equipment and machines.
The switch machine involved in the power failure incident was initially installed in 2008, according to Billy Chan. He also told media that a particular part which was losing its effectiveness on the electricity grind would cause effects to its neighboring transformer substations.
The city’s overall power supply and usage of electricity will remain in normal condition, uninfluenced by yesterday’s power malfunction, according to the authorities. “The design allows some space for us to deal with any malfunction at the equipment, or to conduct repair even if we stop certain parts,” said the senior manager. “Even though the switch is now out of service, it won’t influence the general power supply in the city, which is still pretty steady.”
Among the officials attending the conference was also Ieong Iat Fo, a representative from the Health Bureau.  He reassured attendees that the operations at the major public hospital, especially of the intensive care units, the emergency ward and those health centres were only minimally affected by the power failure thanks to their own back-up power suppliers.
During the almost one-hourlong span of power failure yesterday, the fire service deployed a total of 150 officers to support frontline operation and rescue work, according to its chief officer Lam Io Fan. Staff reporter

Thick black smoke

During yesterday’s power outage, thick black smoke was seen billowing from the Coloane power station. The authorities stated that it was a normal reaction called a “cold-start” that occurs when fuel fails to burn completely. The power failure impacted the Hengqin campus of University of Macau, of which some of its students lacked contingency schemes to tackle similar power accidents. Research work and lectures there during this period were significantly affected due to the shutting down of all electronic equipment.