Dive Brief:
- A $200 million upgrade to Detroit's power system cannot come soon enough, as the city recovers from a significant power outage caused by its aging distribution system.
- DTE Energy is working on a plan to take over the city-run grid, which supplies power to public buildings.
- USA Today reported a faulty cable which interconnects to the city-owned Mistersky power facility was to blame for the blackout, though why the cable failed is still unknown.
Dive Insight:
About 100 public buildings lost power on Tuesday when a cable failed at the Mistersky Power Station. In the late 1920s all of Detroit's Public Lighting Department's generation was shifted to the plant. Now shuttered, essential electrical equipment for the public grid is still located there, and it is unclear just how old that equipment is.
DTE Energy, which is working on a plan to tak over the city's publicaly run grid, sent technical experts to help restore power, the utility said in a statement. Some customers were without power only about 90 minutes while for others, the utility said, though others took much of the day to restore.
"DTE also is working with the city to identify critical facilities that may need standby generation, such as hospitals," the utility said.
