The city of Janesville is hoping for the public’s help with a current energy problem the community is facing.

Beginning June 6, Janesville residents have had problems with electrical outings in their area. While the original cause of the issue wasn’t completely known at the time, with the city referring to it as a “catastrophic event” on their Facebook page, they later realized the issue.

“There was a part of our substation that had broken and wasn’t working anymore,” said City Administrator Clinton Rogers. “So we ordered a new part, but that took about three weeks, and during that time the city has relied on generators to supply electricity to the city.”

Rogers said under most circumstances this wouldn’t have been an issue. Janesville’s generators are generally powerful enough to power the city, with the city having produced its own power for decades.

The part, called the load tap changer, is critical in a substation as it controls voltage and power flow to the city. A tap changer’s job is to help a transformer either raise or lower the voltage of a power flow.

Issues surrounding the substation were fixed the following day, and the city went off of generation for their power. However, Janesville again began to experience electrical issues around July 8. The following day, the city of Janesville explained the issue on their Facebook page by saying testing revealed unrelated issues.

"Our contractors are working on solutions currently," the post reads. "Our goal is to continue service by generating.”

On July 11, the city of Janesville posted the following update on their Facebook:

“Yesterday we reached a maximum load that we currently have available for generation. The current reality is staff is exhausted and continuing to push forward with generation. We currently have engineers looking into the current Generator that is not available to try and get it back in the Generation mix. This unit has the 2nd largest name plate in our fleet. This is why it is imperative that you please avoid using air conditioning. If we reach our maximum capacity for the generators we have available we will be forced to make the difficult decision of shutting down portions of the town without critical infrastructure (lift stations, well pumps, and senior living are critical). This is the LAST decision that we want to make but it very well could come to that. Substantial outages are a very real possibility. Substation update- We are currently waiting on more extensive test results to determine what path we will have to take to correct the newly found deficiencies. Generation may need to be stretched out for an extended period of time depending on results. Please know we appreciate the support in these less than ideal times. Also know we are trying to leverage every available resource in an attempt to get your lives back to normal. Please talk to your friends and neighbors as we need all the help we can get from you!”

For now, the city is urging residents to lower their energy usage, including not using their air conditioners.

“We’re asking that people don’t use their air conditioners or do laundry between the hours of 5 and 10 p.m.” Rogers said, adding that it was only these high energy activities during peak use times that the city was asking people to avoid.

While the city hasn’t needed to resort to this scenario yet, there are concerns that if residents don’t continue to monitor energy usage, Janesville will have to blackout parts of the city to direct energy to high-need areas; such as those containing lift stations and nursing homes.

Ethan Becker is a reporter for the Waseca County News. Reach him at (507) 333-3133.

Data included is taken from the Minnesota Department of Health Daily reports. Because all data is preliminary, the change in number of cumulative positive cases and deaths from one day to the next may not equal the newly reported cases or deaths.

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