Undersea electric cable is fixed

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Eversource used this barge to make repairs to an undersea cable that failed between the mainland and the Island. — George Brennan

An undersea electrical cable that is one of four that supplies electricity to Martha’s Vineyard has been repaired, an Eversource spokesman told The Times.

The cable failed in July, causing some brownouts on the Island. To meet the summer demand in the interim, Eversource moved generators to the Vineyard.

“Early last week, we successfully completed the extensive project to replace a portion of one of the four underwater cables that deliver electricity to Martha’s Vineyard and had faulted in July,” Eversource spokesman William Hinkle wrote in an email. “These complex, high-skill repairs were made through a carefully coordinated effort by a team of divers and crews on both a barge in Vineyard Sound and on land. All four cables are now operating normally and supplying electricity to our customers on Martha’s Vineyard. With the summer season still in full swing, we plan to keep the 15 additional backup generators we brought to the Island through at least Labor Day out of an abundance of caution.”

Eversource has not been able to determine what went wrong with the cable, but has sent the damaged line to an out-of-state lab for analysis, Hinkle wrote. “There are no indications that the cable was damaged by marine activity, such as a boat, and we don’t anticipate a final determination on a cause for at least several weeks.”