The utility company, Entergy, that supplied electricity to the Super Bowl says the blackout that halted the big game was caused by a device it installed specially to prevent a power failure, the company said Friday.
Sunday's power failure cut lights to about half of the stadium, halting play between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers and interrupting the nation's most-watched sporting event for 34 minutes.
The power failure was caused by a device was installed in 2011 to upgrade the electrical system serving the Superdome and prepare for the championship game this year.
Entergy officials said the device "was specifically installed to protect the Mercedes-Benz Superdome equipment in the event of a cable failure between the switchgear and the stadium."
"This device has since been removed from service and new replacement equipment is being evaluated."
Nola.com|The Times-Picayune reported Monday that the preliminary investigation was pointing to the relay equipment, called a switchgear, and whether it had failed or was triggered by something else in the system.
An engineer hired by the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District, the public agency that owns the Dome, warned in October that the stadium’s main power feed was “not sufficiently reliable to support the high-profile event schedule.”
“Failure of this system will result in loss of events and extreme financial liability to the State, LSED and SMG," the firm that manages the Superdome, David Stelly of the Lafayette engineering firm Associated Design Group said in a report.
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