Storm leaves about 16,000 without power; courthouse generator failed briefly, county officials say

Beaver County officials told the Board of Commissioners during a work session April 30 that an overnight storm prompted hundreds of emergency calls and left roughly 16,000 customers without power, and that the courthouse’s backup generator experienced an electrical failure before technicians restored service early the next morning.

County staff member Eric said the county received “511 calls for assistance” during the storm and that “currently, there’s about 16,000” customers without power in Beaver County. The county discussed impacts to critical sites including the jail and hospitals and the need to prioritize those locations.

The discussion matter-of-factly described the courthouse generator coming online but later failing. Drew, director, said, “The generators did what they were supposed to do. They fired up powering everything.” County staff told commissioners technicians arrived in the early morning hours — around 5 a.m., according to the meeting — and restored power to the courthouse. Officials said the generator will run about 12 hours on a full tank of fuel and that the immediate outage did not cause a prolonged shutdown of essential systems.

County staff described what they called an electrical-panel issue as the likely cause of the generator failure; one possibility mentioned was an air pocket in a fuel line. Staff said they will have Penn Power inspect the generator and fuel system. A county official said Penn Power was contacted and that the county will follow up to ensure the failure’s cause is identified so the problem does not recur.

Commissioner Dan said he had been in contact with county staff overnight and asked that county buildings be reported to the utility when power outages occur. “Anytime we do lose power, could you notify Eric so that he can notify Duquesne Light? … County buildings, probably schools, hospitals, etcetera, lose power so they can have that on their list,” Dan said, asking staff to ensure the utility has critical facilities on its priority list.

The county also discussed an interim technical fix: creating a dedicated plug point or wiring so the county can quickly connect a portable generator to courthouse systems if grid power fails. Eric said he will follow up with the county electrician and vendors, and county staff said they will maintain a technician on call while the repair and review are completed.

Next steps include a Penn Power inspection of the generator and further work to install a permanent backup connection for portable generators. Staff said they will report back to the board after the inspection and when a timeline and costs for any wiring or hardware upgrades are available.