Snakes, bees and cars without drivers cause power havoc

A snake spanning two wires atop a power pole created a short-circuit that blacked out two towns in the Northern Territory for over an hour. A vandalised car in Victoria that was left to roll into a power pole caused a power outage for nearby residents. A bee flying into the cab of a truck resulted in the driver crashing into a power pole. These actual incidents were among the top five most unusual reasons for power blackouts in Australia and New Zealand during 2010.

The findings are contained in the Australian and New Zealand Blackout Tracker Annual Report for 2010, an annual compilation of reported power outages prepared by industrial manufacturer Eaton Industries.

The report identifies power outages as being responsible for interruptions to service in at least three data centres in 2010, beginning with Centrelink in Canberra in June, followed by IBM's Newton Data Centre in Auckland and Vocus in Victoria, both occurring in December. The impacts included interruptions to airline booking and check-in systems, and online banking services.

Queensland reported the greatest number of power outages (29) followed by a tie between New South Wales and Victoria with 17 outages each. Storms were responsible for the three most significant blackouts reported during the year, with the biggest outage occurring in Perth, when storm gusts and torrential rain cut power to 150,000 people. A lightning strike in Darwin took second place honours when it cut power to 130,000 people for over 10 hours, while the third most significant outage occurred when strong winds downed power lines and interrupted power for 100,000 people in Palm Beach, Queensland. Not all outages were caused by natural forces, however, with the remaining two of the top five issues occurring during maintenance work.

“Data centres and power availability are increasingly important to IT and business activity,” said Michael Mallia, Marketing Manager, Eaton’s Power Quality division. “From the huge, far-reaching power failures brought on by coastal storms to the smaller, local disruptions that may have affected the people in only one neighbourhood, power outages caused problems for people and businesses across Australia and New Zealand. This report underscores the importance of a power protection plan to every organisation.”

The report notes that although power outages are common and detrimental for organisations, outages can be easily remedied. Uninterruptible power systems (UPSs), generators and surge protection devices are the most common power protection devices to protect data and equipment.