Power Outage Disrupts Jukola Relay Broadcast in Kotka

The Jukola Relay orienteering event in Kotka, Finland, experienced significant disruptions due to a power outage that affected the Yle television broadcast during the Venla Relay's initial stages. The sudden loss of power caused the television screen to go black just as the competition began.

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One medium-voltage network pole has broken. This caused a power outage for about 800 customers. The competition area was also affected by the power outage. The Jukola Relay competition area was connected to backup power relatively quickly.

Janne Malmström, operations manager at Kymenlaakson Sähköverkko, identified the cause as a broken medium-voltage power line. This incident resulted in a power outage for around 800 customers, including the competition area. Fortunately, the Jukola Relay site was swiftly connected to a backup power source.

Malmström stated that it took approximately an hour and a half to reconnect the Jukola Relay to the national power grid. Issues also arose with the backup generator, but all systems were eventually reconnected to the main grid. Technicians were scheduled to replace the backup generator as a precautionary measure.

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It took about an hour and a half before Jukola Relay could be reconnected to the national power grid. We also had problems with the backup generator. Now everything is connected to the national grid again, and we will replace the backup generator just in case.

Organizers had reportedly prepared for various potential threats, including drone attacks and power outages, for this season's event. Malmström acknowledged that while preparations were thorough, brief interruptions can occur before backup systems are fully operational. Despite the initial setback, he expressed confidence that the event would proceed smoothly, though he admitted a lack of a 'crystal ball' to predict unforeseen future issues.

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Everything is prepared for everything, but in such cases, there is always a small delay before the backup system is switched on.