The only part of the Ontario Hydro System not affected was the Fort Erie area next to Buffalo, which was still powered by older 25 Hz generators. With only limited electrical connection southwards, power to the southern states was not affected. The affected power areas were the Ontario Hydro System, St Lawrence- Oswego, Upstate New York, and New England. Station after station experienced load imbalances and automatically shut down.
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Within five minutes, the power distribution system in the Northeast was in chaos as the effects of overloads and the subsequent loss of generating capacity cascaded through the network, breaking the grid into "islands". The Niagara Mohawk Western NY Huntley (Buffalo) and Dunkirk steam plants were knocked offline. These areas ended up being isolated from the rest of the Northeast power grid and remained powered up. The Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant continued to generate power, which supplied Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation customers in the metropolitan areas of Buffalo and Niagara Falls, New York.
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The Beck generators, with no outlet for their power, were automatically shut down to prevent damage. With nowhere else to go, the excess power from Beck Station then flowed east, over the interconnected lines into New York state, overloading them as well, and isolating the power generated in the Niagara region from the rest of the interconnected grid. Their own protective relays, which are also designed to protect the lines from overload, tripped, isolating Beck Station from all of southern Ontario. Instantly, the power that was flowing on the tripped line transferred to the other lines, causing them to become overloaded. Eastern Time, a small variation of power originating from the Robert Moses generating plant in Lewiston, New York caused the relay to trip, disabling a main power line heading into Southern Ontario. The safety relay had been misprogrammed, and it did what it had been asked to do: to disconnect under the loads it perceived.
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Transmission lines heading into southern Ontario were heavily loaded. On a particularly cold November evening, power demands for heating, lighting, and cooking were pushing the electrical system to near its peak capacity. The safety relay was set to trip if other protective equipment deeper within the Ontario Hydro system failed to operate properly. 2 in Queenston, Ontario, near Niagara Falls. The cause of the failure was the setting of a protective relay on one of the transmission lines from the Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Power Station No.