ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland, February 13, 2026, 18:18 (NST)
- NL Hydro said a trip on the Labrador-Island Link triggered widespread outages across the island.
- Newfoundland Power said it was investigating outages from St. John’s to Port aux Basques.
- The event involved under-frequency load shedding, which drops blocks of customers to protect the grid.
Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro said a trip, or automatic shutdown, on the Labrador-Island Link transmission line triggered widespread power outages across the island on Friday, but expected service to return within about 30 minutes. Newfoundland Power said it was investigating outages that left pockets without electricity from St. John’s to Port aux Basques; Hydro has not explained what caused the trip. (VOCM)
The utility calls the event under-frequency load shedding, a safeguard that automatically drops preset blocks of customers when a sudden loss of generation drags system frequency down. Hydro says these island outages happen about five to eight times a year and rarely last more than 30 minutes, but different blocks get hit each time. (Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro)
Hydro’s website showed island demand of 1,261 megawatts at 6:10 p.m. local time, and Muskrat Falls generation of 427 MW at 6:08 p.m. The dashboard notes Muskrat Falls power flows over the Labrador-Island Link to supply the island system and commitments to Nova Scotia. (Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro)
Construction on the 1,100-kilometre Labrador-Island Link was completed in late 2017 and commissioned in April 2023, and it carries electricity from the Muskrat Falls generating facility in Labrador to the island of Newfoundland, the Canada Energy Regulator says. Newfoundland’s island system is connected to the North American grid through the Labrador-Island Link and the Maritime Link, the subsea connection to Nova Scotia, it says. The regulator also says Newfoundland Power, a Fortis Inc subsidiary, distributes electricity to more than 275,000 customers in the province. (Canada Energy Regulator)
Utilities had already been warning customers about tight conditions this winter. In late January, Newfoundland Power vice-president Byron Chubbs said any area put on planned rotating outages — used if the system moves from a “power warning” to a “power emergency” — would be without electricity for a maximum of 60 minutes. Those warnings were tied to frazil ice, a slushy ice that can clog hydro intakes, that shut down the Bay d’Espoir plant at the time. (VOCM)
Friday’s load shedding is a different tool, and it can arrive with little notice. It is meant to keep the grid stable after a sharp disturbance, even if that means cutting some customers off briefly.
But if the underlying problem persists — or if another major asset trips — the island could see repeat cuts, or longer outages if supply tightens. The Labrador-Island Link has become a central route for Muskrat Falls power, so a sustained disruption there would leave fewer options.
Hydro said restoration was under way, and set expectations for a short disruption. For businesses and households, the bigger question is whether Friday’s trip was a one-off or a sign of something still off in the system.
