Pepco substation failure cuts Foggy Bottom power for over 1,100
Over 1,100 people in D.C.'s Foggy Bottom lost power on Monday when a Pepco substation failed, causing smoke, a manhole explosion, and traffic light outages near the State Department.
The blackout disrupted government offices and the World Bank, but crews managed to get things running again by afternoon.
Interestingly, the US Department of Energy had put out an emergency order effective October 13-16 to help prevent possible electricity supply issues.
DOE order sought backup power readiness
The emergency order (October 13-16) was meant for D.C. and 13 states because of warm weather and planned equipment outages, basically to make sure backup power was ready if needed.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said it was all about keeping things reliable.
Meanwhile, Pepco is still looking into what went wrong at its substation as energy demand keeps rising and unpredictable weather makes things trickier for the grid.