Don't blame Beyonce. Blame Entergy New Orleans' “electrical relay device.”
Image by Charlie Riedel, File / AP
The [electrical relay] device was specifically installed to protect the Mercedes-Benz Superdome equipment in the event of a cable failure between the switchgear and the stadium.
While the relay functioned without issue during a number of high-profile events – including the New Orleans Bowl, the New Orleans Saints–Carolina Panthers game, and the Sugar Bowl – during Sunday's game, the relay device triggered, signaling a switch to open when it should not have, causing the partial outage.
This device has since been removed from service and new replacement equipment is being evaluated.
During the Super Bowl, Entergy officials dodged blame for the outage, insisting that they were continuing to feed power to the Superdome.
Charles Rice, who announced Tuesday that his company and Superdome management would hire outside experts to investigate the outage.
Image by Jonathan Bachman / AP