Generator partially to blame for power outage

An emergency backup electric generator was already spinning in Nogales when a power outage hit Santa Cruz County last Wednesday.

But the sudden demand caused it to trip and go down, Tucson Electric Co. spokesperson Joe Salkowski said Monday.

Unfortunately, after such a failure it can’t be restarted for four hours, Salkowski said.

The company called the manufacturer, which confirmed the four-hour lag time. Meanwhile, other emergency generating equipment started and the company switched to other lines to help bring power to all 18,000 Santa Cruz customers.

Salkowski said operators were unaware of the delayed restart time until they talked to the company.

Tubac resident Marshall Magruder said in a short interview that with the emergency turbines, Nogales should have been able to be back online within 15 minutes.

Magruder was a member of a joint Nogales - Santa Cruz County Commission that in the 1990s studied a proposed 345,000 power-volt line to the county. The commission voted to support the large line, although Magruder voted no.

Salkowski said one of the Nogales backup turbines was already spinning to help handle the local load that afternoon. The sudden surge in demand forced it off.

Within four hours, all TEP customers in Santa Cruz County were receiving power.

The failure occurred when a cross arm on a power pole broke, dropping a transmission line to the ground.

Another company spokesperson, Joe Barrios, said lightning or wind might have caused the cross arm to break.

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