“Equipment failure” caused unusual power outage in Kennydale, Renton Highlands, and the Landing

Video: This security camera video taken from Renton’s West Hill (looking across town toward I-405 and Renton Highlands) shows two cycles of bright flashes as the power goes out for 6,045 customers on April 9, 2023.  While the video is low resolution, the lights can be seen turning on and off in the background (east of I-405), as automatic switching or resetting circuit breaker systems attempt to keep the lights on.  (Thanks to Jay Levias Sr. for this video)

I’m curious whether aging equipment, an overtaxed power grid, an external event, or just bad luck caused last night’s weird power outage.  I’ll try to learn more and share it here if I can.  If any readers know more about this, please add your information in the comments.

Here’s some of what I know so far:

Around 9:10 last night, bright flashes light up the night sky near I-405 and the Landing,  as over 6,045 PSE customers in Renton and Newcastle witnessed their power shutting off, turning back on, then shutting off again, then on again, and then back off.  As one of those customers, my home’s appliances chimed and complained as the surges and low voltages impacted devices from my washing machine to my computers in various ways.  In the 38 years in my home, this was the strangest outage I had ever seen, partly due to the rave put on by the auto-switching stations trying to keep the lights on, partly because of the brilliant flashes many saw in the sky, and partly because there was nothing about the weather that would make an outage seem likely– it was a typical Seattle drizzly evening, with no significant wind or lightning.  The outage had my family dashing through the house unplugging electronics that could be hurt by high power surges.

To the credit of the hard workers at PSE, the power was restored within the hour.

A Newcastle resident posted this screenshot of PSE status during last night’s power outage

Puget Sound Energy has been working to update their electrical grid in Renton.  They acknowledged several years ago that Renton infrastructure needed some significant updates.  During the conversations with Puget Sound Energy about the controversial Energize Eastside project, PSE Spokesperson Andy Wappler reported that Renton was underserved with electric power.

The Renton Reporter covered this issue with an in-depth story here, which included the following:

“In a phone interview on Tuesday, Wappler addressed both Corman’s suggestion and undergrounding.

Wappler said though the map showing growth in power demands does show a larger increase in usage to the north of I-90, a large section of Renton also shows increased need for power, especially the areas on either side of state Route 900, including North Renton, the Highlands and the Kennydale neighborhoods.

“The use in Renton, particularly on either side of SR900, is one of the areas of heaviest energy use,” Wappler said, adding that he means that not only in the future but in the “present tense.”

Wappler said the substation that serves Renton, located on Talbot Hill, is already nearing or over capacity on high-demand days.

PSE rebuilt part of the Talbot Hill substation during Energize Eastside, but they also identified a need for updated transmission lines between Talbot Hill and the Paccar substation.  The PSE website says that the update is still in the permitting stage.

I’m not sure if the proposed PSE projects will resolve all of the Renton capacity issues they identified on both sides of Highway 900, and I’ve heard that with the most ambitious development plans for new offices and housing near Southport and the Landing could necessitate a higher capacity substation in that area. A shortage of power over time could inhibit growth, but at this point Renton does not appear on PSE’s top list for needed improvements.  In a June 2022 report PSE released on modernizing their grid, they covered improvements they had planned in 14 cities– but none in Renton.

New substations are being built to improve electrical capacity and reliability in Kent, Black Diamond, Issaquah, Bellevue, Redmond, and other locations, but not in Renton.

I would like to see Renton leaders get an updated report from PSE on the latest status of Renton’s electric grid, including predictions for need with future buildouts. Are we ready for the future?  Essential infrastructure like this should be high on the list of City Council priorities.

The Renton residents that had expressed concern about Renton hosting a battery-power-storage facility also deserve to understand the plans for the grid and to be informed about the type of seemingly-explosive failure that led to yesterday’s power outage.  While it’s likely engineers would conclude there is no way yesterday’s flash could have happened in a battery energy storage facility, it would be nice to know that is the case.