Power outages reported in some N.W.T. communities
Outage on Monday afternoon traced to Taltson hydro unit, cause under investigation
There was an extended power outage in Fort Smith, N.W.T. on Monday because of issues with the Taltson power system.
The Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) first reported outages in Hay River and Fort Smith, in social media posts late Monday afternoon.
Half an hour later, the power provider said power had been restored to Hay River after the community was successfully switched over to its backup diesel generators.
"Employees are working as quickly and safely as they can to make the switch to diesel in Fort Smith," the power corporation said in an update about an hour into the outage.
"The outage occurred when the Taltson hydro unit tripped offline. The cause of the trip is under investigation. Thank you for your ongoing patience and understanding."
In another update at 5:30 p.m., NTPC said issues switching Fort Smith to diesel generators continued, and they were unable to give an estimate as to when power would be restored in Fort Smith.
At around 7:50 p.m. the NTPC said that power had been restored in most areas of Fort Smith, with 250 residents remaining without power.
Power also briefly went out in Yellowknife and Dettah in the late afternoon on Monday, but was restored after less than 10 minutes. In a social media post, NTPC said the outage in those communities was caused by an issue with feeders in Yellowknife.