Mains failure and generator that failed to start black out Port Melbourne data centre
Dec 2010Published 13 Oct 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor
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Companies named in this entry: Vocus
What happened
On 10 December 2010 a high-voltage mains power failure, reported by utility CitiPower at about 4am, cut power to the Vocus data centre on Crockford Street, Port Melbourne, Victoria. Battery back-ups ran for about an hour, but the site's single 750 kVA diesel generator failed to start. Customers and users of Pipe Networks peering services reported outages from about 5am. Generator technicians were understood to have reached the site within half an hour, and back-up power was restored at about 8am.
Mains power returned at about 12.30pm. The outage was reported as lasting about 3.5 hours. Customer engineers were reportedly unable to re-enter immediately because the smoke detection system could not be safely disabled. The mains outage was understood to have affected the whole Port Melbourne suburb. CitiPower's investigation into the cause was still open at the time of reporting.
Contributing factors
The site ran on a single back-up generator. Vocus found this during due diligence before completing its acquisition of the facility from E3 Networks, and bought a second generator after completion, but it had not yet been delivered. The reason the existing generator failed to start was not reported. Vocus said it had implemented new disaster recovery processes after the acquisition, which took effect as the outage began.
Lessons learned
- Check the standby power redundancy of any data centre during due diligence and close any single-point-of-failure gaps before or immediately after completion.
- Battery back-up autonomy of about an hour is short, so test standby generators regularly under load and confirm they start and take the load automatically.
- Plan safe re-entry procedures so that fire detection systems and site access rules do not delay engineers from restoring services during a power outage.
More lessons on outages, backup supply and restoration, worker safety and safe systems of work, from every incident on the register.
Source
Published 2026-10-13. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.
