Contact:        Doug Rogness, Communications Director
Phone:          218.299.5407
E-mail:          This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Reliability Improvements Preserve Power

2004 upgrades prevent half of Moorhead from going dark

History has shown that if a press release is sent by an electric utility during a lightning storm, they are announcing an outage.  But thanks to reliability upgrades performed in 2007, Moorhead Public Service (MPS) is proud to announce the aversion of a power outage.

This afternoon, a lightning strike caused a circuit to trip at the Moorhead Substation-one of the two substations where power enters the city of Moorhead.  Prior to upgrades completed in 2004, a trip such as this would have caused approximately half of the city to be without power.

Between 2002 and 2004, MPS completed $5.2 million in power system reliability upgrades in and around the city of Moorhead.  The most notable upgrade came in the form of a complete power transmission loop, tying the two source substations together.  This loop allows for the back-feeding of power in the event that either source is taken off-line.

How did that upgrade "save the day?"  When the Moorhead Substation went down because of the lightning strike this afternoon, the system automatically redirected all the needed power from the Fargo Substation-the second electrical source for Moorhead.  Dave Kahly, MPS Electric Division Manager, commented, "This is the first instance I can recall where our reliability improvements prevented a large outage for our customers."

MPS is a community-owned utility serving the residents of Moorhead, Minnesota, with electricity, water, and broadband Internet access.

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If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview, please call Doug Rogness at 218-299-5407 or e-mail Doug at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .