Con Edison, the main provider of power for New York City and surrounding areas, issued a statement on Monday disclosing the results of their investigation into the July 13 blackout which plunged much of Manhattan’s West Side into darkness.
An official statement issued by the company on Monday detailed an investigation that reviewed 15 years of power data in NYC and stated in conclusion, “We identified a flawed connection between some of the sensors and protective relays at the substation. We have corrected that condition.”
The investigation, which took over two weeks to complete, was further described as a thorough review of New York City’s power grid, which was described as “one of the most complex and technologically advanced in the world, with multiple layers of redundancy.”
The statement further offered a tone of assurance from Con Ed that the blackout would not be repeated saying, “We are confident that we have identified the cause of the July 13th outage, and taken the corrective actions necessary to provide safe, reliable service for our customers.” Over 73,000 customers were without power during the blackout, which lasted most of the evening on a hot July day.
Con Ed expressed belief on the night of the blackout that the power failure was caused by a transformer fire at 54th Street and West End Avenue. The statement on Monday said that the faulty equipment was actually removed from the nearby 62nd Street substation. They said that all faulty equipment was replaced and, “Out of an abundance of caution, we have taken preventive measures by isolating similar relay equipment at other substations. We will analyze and test the equipment before we put it back in service. Our electrical delivery system continues to operate with multiple layers of relay protection.”
