Power outage sends YVR Airport terminal into darkness | Daily Hive

Power outage at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) on October 13, 2023. (Submitted)

The terminal building of Vancouver International Airport (YVR) experienced a major power outage that first began shortly after 3 pm Friday.

Photos submitted to Daily Hive Urbanized show dark interiors due to the outage, with passengers at the airport stating some airport operations appear to be impacted. Indoor illumination is currently reliant on natural daylight more than usual.

The terminal’s gates remain operational, and the real-time arrivals and departures information on YVR’s website currently suggests there have been no major impacts to flight operations.

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“YVR is experiencing a power outage due to a technical issue affecting parts of Sea Island including portions of the terminal. Flights continue to arrive and depart but we are seeing some impacts in terminal as we work to bring things like escalators, elevators, electronic kiosks, and other systems back online,” reads Vancouver Airport Authority’s statement to Daily Hive Urbanized upon inquiry.

The airport authority states they have deployed additional staff to the terminal building’s common areas to assist passengers.

vancouver international airport yvr power outage october 13 2023 4

Power outage at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) on October 13, 2023. (Submitted)

“Safety and security is our top priority and teams are working to ensure all systems relating to these functions are fully operational. We thank everyone for their patience as we work to restore the terminal to full power and get passengers on their way safely and as quickly as possible,” continues the statement.

As a precaution, the airport authority is recommending passengers to contact their airline for the latest flight information.

At the time of writing, BC Hydro has not reported any grid-based power outage in the vicinity of Sea Island.

The airport authority further states YVR has emergency backup power and is functioning as intended to keep all essential systems operational. YVR is also known to have extensive backup generator systems for critical functions such as airfield electricity needs, especially runway lighting.

As of just after 6 pm, power was restored at the airport, with some residue impacts as systems come back online.

Mildly nerve-wracking “airport-wide” power outage. Hotel staff scrambling as we run on generators #yvr pic.twitter.com/rrTtT6FyL0

— Sara (@NahanniFinanci1) October 13, 2023

vancouver international airport yvr power outage october 13 2023 1

Power outage at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) on October 13, 2023. (Submitted)

Prior to the pandemic, YVR was in the process of building a Central Utilities Building (CUB) that would have provided the terminal building with 10 new emergency backup generators and a new geoexchange system to provide a clean energy source for heating and cooling the vast terminal building interior, as well as consolidated utilities and equipment systems currently scattered across the terminal building.

However, a decision was made in Summer 2020 to cancel CUB and hit pause indefinitely on the adjacent parkade expansion due to the pandemic’s initial harsh financial impacts on the airport authority. At the time, the airport indicated it had spent $525 million on these projects, and that several hundred million dollars more would be required to reach completion.

YVR is currently seeking a partner to complete the former partially-built CUB shell structure into 300,000 sq ft of commercial and light industrial space.

vancouver international airport yvr airport commerce centre

Partially-built skeleton structure of the previously planned Central Utilities Building, which is now set to become the Airport Commerce Centre. (Google Maps)

yvr vancouver international airport central utilities building airport commerce centre

Artistic rendering of the now-cancelled Central Utilities Building at Vancouver International Airport. This building will now become the Airport Commerce Centre. (Vancouver Airport Authority)

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