What’s next, a blackout at the Academy Awards?

During one of the highest profile television events of the year in the US, viewers and players sat in the dark after one half of the storied Superdrome stadium was plunged into extended darkness. The first thought for many in the energy sector was of Entergy, the electric generating firm that is the dominant power supplier to the region.

Today, the company said everything performed the way it was designed to:

“Shortly after the beginning of the second half of the Super Bowl in the Mercedes Benz Superdome, a piece of equipment that is designed to monitor electrical load sensed an abnormality in the system. Once the issue was detected, the sensing equipment operated as designed and opened a breaker, causing power to be partially cut to the Superdome in order to isolate the issue.

“Backup generators kicked in immediately as designed. Entergy and SMG subsequently coordinated start up procedures, ensuring that full power was safely restored to the Superdome.

“The fault-sensing equipment activated where the Superdome equipment intersects with Entergy’s feed into the facility.

“There were no additional issues detected.

“Entergy and SMG will continue to investigate the root cause of the abnormality.”