MONTREAL — Quebec's electric utility says hundreds of thousands of customers were temporarily without power Tuesday due to a problem at the Churchill Falls generating station in Labrador.
Hydro-Québec spokesman Francis Labbé said the generating station experienced a sudden interruption, triggering protection mechanisms that responded by cutting power to the grid in Quebec.
"There are production units at the Churchill Falls power station that had a sudden interruption of production," Labbé said. "Each and every production unit generates thousands of megawatts, particularly in that power station."
Labbé said the utility was working to draw power from other stations to compensate and restore service to as many customers as possible.
Around noon, the provincially-owned utility reported nearly 500,000 homes and businesses without electricity across the province, including large pockets in the Montreal and Quebec City areas. That number had dropped to less than 45,000 by 2:30 p.m.
"We will investigate to understand what happened, but it's too soon for us to say what precisely may be the cause for that interruption," Labbé said.
A spokesperson for Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro described the problem as a "maintenance issue" that resulted in supply issues for customers in Quebec. Jill Pitcher said all units are back online and the incident is under investigation.
Under a 1969 agreement, Hydro-Quebec can purchase 85 per cent of the electricity generated by the Churchill Falls hydroelectric dam. As of 2019, the deal had yielded close to $28 billion in profits to Quebec, and about $2 billion for Newfoundland and Labrador.
It has been a difficult month for the Quebec utility after an April 5 ice storm hit the province, knocking out power to 1.1 million customers — some for as long as a week.
As well, the provincially-owned utility was hit two weeks ago with a cyberattack that knocked off-line its website and mobile application, with a pro-Russian hacker group claiming responsibility.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 25, 2023.
The Canadian Press
