ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland, February 13, 2026, 18:18 (NST)
- NL Hydro reported that a trip on the Labrador-Island Link set off power outages across the island.
- Newfoundland Power was looking into outages stretching from St. John’s all the way to Port aux Basques.
- Under-frequency load shedding was triggered, cutting off sections of customers to safeguard the grid.
Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro reported that an automatic shutdown, known as a trip, on the Labrador-Island Link transmission line led to broad power outages across the island Friday. The utility anticipated service would bounce back in roughly 30 minutes. Newfoundland Power was looking into outages that left areas from St. John’s to Port aux Basques in the dark, while Hydro has yet to say what set off the trip.
The utility refers to the process as under-frequency load shedding—essentially, if a sharp loss of generation pulls system frequency too low, preset groups of customers are automatically disconnected. According to Hydro, these island-wide outages typically occur five to eight times annually, most wrapping up within 30 minutes. The affected blocks rotate, so it’s not the same customers every time.
At 6:10 p.m. local time, Hydro’s website listed island demand at 1,261 megawatts. Two minutes earlier, Muskrat Falls was generating 427 MW. The dashboard points out that Muskrat Falls sends electricity through the Labrador-Island Link to both the island grid and to fulfill commitments to Nova Scotia.
The 1,100-kilometre Labrador-Island Link, finished in late 2017 and officially brought online in April 2023, now transmits power from the Muskrat Falls plant in Labrador over to Newfoundland, according to the Canada Energy Regulator. That line, along with the Maritime Link—the underwater cable to Nova Scotia—ties Newfoundland’s electricity network into the wider North American grid, the regulator noted. Newfoundland Power, owned by Fortis Inc, supplies more than 275,000 customers across the province, it added.
Utilities had been flagging potential trouble for customers heading into winter. Back in late January, Newfoundland Power vice-president Byron Chubbs said that any region hit with planned rotating outages—triggered if the system escalates from a “power warning” to a “power emergency”—would see electricity cut for no longer than 60 minutes at a stretch. The warnings at that point were linked to frazil ice, a slushy buildup known for jamming up hydro intakes, which had forced the Bay d’Espoir plant to go offline. VOCM
Friday’s load shedding works differently; it can hit suddenly, often with almost no warning. The measure is designed to stabilize the grid following a sharp disturbance—even if that calls for temporarily cutting off certain customers.
If the core issue isn’t fixed — or if a different big asset stumbles — more power cuts could hit the island, maybe lasting longer if supply gets squeezed. The Labrador-Island Link now carries the bulk of Muskrat Falls power; a prolonged problem there would shrink alternatives.
Hydro reported that crews had started restoring service, projecting only a brief interruption. But for households and businesses, uncertainty lingered: was Friday’s outage just a fluke, or did it point to deeper trouble in the system?
