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The power went out across Juneau Thursday morning at about 6:30 a.m. when the Snettisham hydro-electric power plant went offline due to a line fault. AEL&P was able to get power back up using diesel generators and other power plants about 75 minutes later, AEL&P’s Scott Willis told Juneau’s NBC affiliate KATH-TV.
AEL&P says guy wire anchors supporting one of three towers near the end of the 42-mile line had failed, causing one of the towers to fall into another, causing a short.
Willis says the tower was not damaged, and that the conductor is still whole, which means the necessary repairs will largely be replacing the anchors and uprighting the tower.
KATH reports that diesel generators are now pumping about 60 percent of Juneau’s power, but that rates are not expected to increase dramatically, as they did in 2008 and 2009, when oil prices were higher and diesel was providing 90 percent of the city’s power.