A really bad day: marine 138KV cables damaged

[Open Neutral]

https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/MAB1912.pdf

At 1732 local time on April 1, 2018, the articulated tug and barge (ATB) Clyde S VanEnkevort/
Erie Trader was westbound with a crew of 14 in the Straits of Mackinac, Michigan, when the barge’s
starboard anchor, which had unknowingly released and was dragging on the bottom, struck and
damaged three underwater electrical transmission cables and two oil pipelines. About 800 gallons of
dielectric mineral oil leaked into the water from the cables; the oil pipelines sustained only superficial
damage. ...............

(The NEXT sentence is the one we wince over....)

Just be glad it ain't you.

More at https://www.atcllc.com/straitscables/

 

[jaggedben]

It cost $100 million to repair some 138 kilowatt cables? Seems high.

Just kidding: NTSB investigators don't understand electricity either.

 

[LarryFine]

I hate it when that happens. :ashamed1:

 

[Open Neutral]

It cost $100 million to repair some 138 kilowatt cables? Seems high.

Not repair, replace. As I read it, once they stopped pumping dielectric fluid in, water, dirty water, encroached [far] up the cables.

https://www.atc-projects.com/projects/straits-cable-replacement-project/

AC is replacing both sets with solid dielectric triplex cables.