High power testing tomorrow on Labrador-Island Link

Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro is continuing to test the Labrador-Island Link this week. The Labrador-Island Link is the transmission line bringing power from the completed Muskrat Falls facility in Labrador to the Soldier’s Pond terminal station on the island. It is a “bipole” transmission line as electricity can be delivered over one of two lines, or both at once.

The Labrador-Island Link will run at higher power levels, 675 MW, tomorrow, November 24, and again early next week – date to be confirmed based on system requirements and weather. Hydro will continue to monitor the electricity system and weather conditions today and into tomorrow morning to ensure it manages risk to customers before proceeding with running the line at higher power levels. Running the Labrador-Island Link at higher power levels is an important step toward final commissioning of this asset. Successful testing at higher power levels will provide verification of the software functionality required for operation.

Electricity equipment can come offline, or trip, suddenly for many different reasons such as weather, equipment malfunction etc. Trips often occur without any customer impact and usually go unnoticed as Hydro manages the system with appropriate backup to restore customers before they see any impact. Testing and commissioning at higher power levels ‘could’ lead to a trip with customer impact. Equipment trips are designed to protect our system from further equipment issues, and by having appropriate supply available, we can restore customers quickly (typically under 30 minutes), if an event does result in a power interruption. These outages, designed to protect our equipment, are called Under Frequency Load Shedding events. (Learn more about these events at the video below).

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter for timely updates as system conditions and/or weather could impact plans.

“We’ll be monitoring the system closely during testing and will keep customers informed on the status of the system if any issues arise. We appreciate your patience as we move through this next phase of testing. As we work to strengthen our electricity system, we know you are counting on us to provide safe, reliable energy and we take that responsibility seriously.”

– Jennifer Williams

VIDEOS:
https://nlhydro.com/good-to-know/what-is-underfrequency-load-shedding/
https://nlhydro.com/outages/