Testing on the Labrador Island Link is temporarily on hold while Hydro officials investigate what caused the LIL to shed its power load during testing yesterday morning.

The incident temporarily knocked out power to some 58,000 customers across the island yesterday morning.

Vice President of Hydro Engineering and NL System Operator, Rob Collett, says they successfully tested a 500 megawatt load on the system back in October, and yesterday’s test involved a 700 megawatt load. He says while the software successfully tripped and carried the load, the protection systems kicked in and knocked the LIL offline.

They’re now trying to figure out what caused the protection and monitoring system to kick in. Tests on the LIL planned for next week are unlikely to happen.

He says a thorough investigation will be carried out first and only once that process is complete would they consider resuming testing.

The testing is part of final commissioning of the Labrador Island Link. It’s not clear if the testing will be completed by the end of the calendar year.