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Grid infrastructureUnited StatesEIR-1295

Equipment failure at Hypoluxo substation causes Lake Worth outage

2018Published 25 Sept 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor

SignificantElectricalProvisional
Estimated damageEstimated by the register's adjusterHow? Know the real figure?
Figure hidden: shown to subscribersLow confidence
supply cut for about •• daysShown in the record →Full estimate
From the recordRoot cause hiddenFailed part hidden
Where
Hypoluxo substation, Lake Worth
What
Equipment failure sparked a fire and caused power outage
Cause
Not reported
Outcome
Widespread outage; city started own power plant

What happened

A piece of equipment failed and sparked a fire late on a Wednesday night in June 2018 at the Hypoluxo substation, causing a widespread power outage in Lake Worth. The city manager said the item that failed was a replacement installed after a transformer malfunctioned in April and was sent away for forensic testing, and that there was no data yet on the cause of the latest failure. Residents were without power in high temperatures. He said failures of this kind affected the city's only incoming supply line, after which it takes several hours to start the city's own power plant.

Contributing factors

The city manager described an ageing system, a backlog of problems and years of under-investment, but said the cause of this failure was not known. The city has only one incoming supply line.

Lessons learned

  1. Do not treat the cause as known until testing of the failed item is complete, including when a replacement fails.
  2. A single incoming supply can turn a local equipment failure into a wider outage lasting several hours.
  3. Sections that fail more often, and deferred renewal, should be identified and funded before the next outage, not only after repeated events.

More lessons on maintenance, inspection and ageing assets, outages, backup supply and restoration, from every incident on the register.

Not yet known

  • Exact cause of the equipment failure
  • Type and age of the failed equipment
  • Duration of the power outage
  • Cost of the damage and response

This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.

Source

wptv.com

Other entries that name Worth

Published 2026-09-25. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.

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