Explainer: Cause of massive Railbelt power outage remains unknown after load shedding event [Video]

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – As the exact cause of Monday’s power outage — which left tens of thousands of people in Anchorage and Mat-Su in the dark — remains under investigation, Chugach Electric leaders are explaining the deliberate, precautionary process known as “load shedding” used to prevent a widespread Railbelt outage.

For roughly an hour, more than 45,000 people in Anchorage and an additional 24,000 in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough went without power Monday evening.

Both the Chugach Electric and Matanuska Electric Association cited the issue as a “load-shedding” event in social media posts.

Chugach Electric Communications Manager Julie Hasquet said that while the cause is still under investigation, without utilizing what is known as load management, the situation could have been worse.

“Load-shedding is a great tool for us to manage the situation when major generation goes offline in the Railbelt,” Hasquet said. “In this instance, it affected Chugach and MEA, we both shed the …