Posted on 02/04/2013 9:41:44 AM PST by thackney
The Super Bowl power outage on Sunday happened after electrical monitoring equipment “sensed an abnormality in the system,” according to the power provider for the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Entergy, which provides power to the Superdome, along with 2.8 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, said in a statement Monday that the change triggered a partial electrical shutdown. Entergy’s service area includes 400,000 customers in southeast Texas, including homes in Beaumont, Port Arthur, The Woodlands, Huntsville and Conroe. The only customer affected by the problem was the Superdome, Entergy spokesman Michael Burns told FuelFix.
“Shortly after the beginning of the second half of the Super Bowl in the Mercedes Benz Superdome, a piece of equipment that is designed to monitor electrical load sensed an abnormality in the system,” Entergy said in a joint statement with stadium operator SMG. “Once the issue was detected, the sensing equipment operated as designed and opened a breaker, causing power to be partially cut to the Superdome in order to isolate the issue.”
The outage partially darkened the stadium when half the lights shut off and scoreboards went out throughout the arena. It caused a 34 minute delay in play that was credited with shifting momentum in Sunday night’s NFL championship game. The partial blackout was followed by an offensive surge from the San Francisco 49ers, who lost to the Baltimore Ravens in a game that came down to the final seconds.
Entergy and SMG said backup generators “kicked in immediately as designed” and that full power was restored.
It was not clear what caused the “abnormality.” CBS broadcasters initially reported that the NFL suspected a power surge was the problem.
“The fault-sensing equipment activated where the Superdome equipment intersects with Entergy’s feed into the facility,” the statement said.
The FBI does not suspect any kind of attack played a role int he partial blackout, Mary Beth Romig, a spokeswoman for the bureau’s New Orleans field office, told FuelFix.
“We have no indication that last night’s power outage in the dome was ever a result of a threat of terror or a cyber attack,” Romig said.
The outage occurred shortly after an energy-intensive halftime performance from Beyonce, involving light displays, video boards and fireworks.
The companies said they are still investigating the incident to determine the “root cause of the abnormality.”
“We’re conducting a root-cause analysis to determine exactly what happened,” Burns said. “We’re obviously trying to do it as quickly as possible.”
The companies said no additional issues were detected in the electrical system.
1. Global warming.
It was Bush's fault.<> FYI..MB doesn't "underwrite" the SuperDome..they just pay for "naming rights"..they have nothing to do with the running/maintenance of the place. However, if the SuperDome is NOT run properly, then MB can cancel the deal, take their name off the place....too bad Yugo isn't around anymore.
I certainly hope you have since installed a backup generator in advance of the next hurricane.
I don't think MBZ has any control over anything other than the color of the logo painted on the ceiling. They bought naming rights, and nothing more.
I apologize if I missed any sarcasm that may have been intended in your post.
I'll vouch for that. I live in Conroe and I didn't lose power.
Half-time show should have been during the blackout! What a waste stomping around a stage....she has no talent!
Instead of opening her stupid mouth wrt politics, she should have just continued to make Barbarella movies!;)
Planning on being an Atlantan before the next hurricane. Evacuating is no way to live-and N.O. is doomed in many ways. I’m done.
No sarcasm-just didn’t know what Mercedes Benz paid for. Hate football-glad its over.
THEORIES:
# 1 - A backfeed from auxilliary generators from the halftime show.
# 2 - A cyberterrorism hack of the grid.
# 2A - caused by Anonymous. Motive-hurt the team from California (whose sidelines were the dimmest) in revenge for SOPA. It backfired.
# 2B - caused by the AQ. Not likely because there were no simultaneous attacks elsewhere, which is AQ’s preferred M.O.
# 2C - caused by the Chicoms. Motive-a warning shot.
# 2D - caused by DHS to generate fear and anxiety and make the case for more TSA type security anywhere and everywhere.
By a small quirk of geography, I dodged the Entergy bullet and hae SLEMCO. I've been very satisfied with their service through several hurricanes.
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