Consumers Energy reveals the causes of fire that led to an overall requirement to turn down thermostats
JACKSON, MI – An automatic release of natural gas combined with high wind and hot equipment caused a massive fire color on the consumer's largest natural gas space, an internal survey shows.
Consumers released a statement on Friday, April 5 about the findings after a two-month survey. The Michigan Public Service Commission is conducting a survey that explores what happened.
Consumer fire highlights ongoing gas security issues in Michigan, regulator says
Recent events have & # 39; increased & # 39; Commission's concern.
Consumers worked with a third party consultant on the survey.
The fire at Macomb County Ray Compressor Station asked for a potential shortage of natural gas. The station has 64 per cent of consumers. Record low temperatures were recorded over the state that week, which led to record high demand for natural gas.
Michigander's black invoke, cut gas consumption 1[ads1]0 percent after emergency
The reduction was necessary to avoid heat interruptions, Consumer officials said.
Natural gas was released by a fire air system because the signal to the system was interrupted due to a ground fault, said Katie Carey, director of media connections, in an email. It automatically triggered the gas that was released. The cause of the basic faults and subsequent signal interruptions is still under investigation, says Carey.
"The Consumer's Energy Review found no evidence of failure to properly maintain our equipment," the statement said.
The Firegate system is designed as a safety measure that allows natural gas to burst into the atmosphere, rather than burning a potential fire inside an emergency.
Cold and windy conditions that day kept the natural gas just above the stack. The mixture of air created the flammable plum, which blew over to the neighboring plant and started the fire, Carey said.
"Under unique and extreme weather conditions, the process became dangerous," said the statement. "We plan to address the issue at Ray Compressor Station and implement new procedures across our natural gas fleet to further increase flexibility and avoid failure under these extraordinary conditions."
Consumer Energy Super Bowl ad thanks Michiganders for beating down the heat
The ad did not come nationally, only for viewers on the Lower Peninsula, said Katie Carey, director of media relations.
Michiganders was asked Lowering thermostats to 65 degrees via a statewide emergency message for mobile phones and a late video from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Almost 100 companies cut down production to save natural gas and customers reduced their use by 10 percent. resulted without the overall savings, consumers say.
Correction: The headline in an earlier version of the The story showed that the outbreaks were due to the gas shortage. Outages were actually avoided after the customers answered the call to turn down thermostats.
