Good article on blackouts and the US power grid

[hminsky]

http://boingboing.net/2012/08/03/blackout-whats-wrong-with-t.html#more-174684

It began with a few small mistakes.

Around 12:15, on the afternoon of August 14, 2003, a software program that helps monitor how well the electric grid is working in the American Midwest shut itself down after after it started getting incorrect input data. The problem was quickly fixed. But nobody turned the program back on again.

A little over an hour later, one of the six coal-fired generators at the Eastlake Power Plant in Ohio shut down. An hour after that, the alarm and monitoring system in the control room of one of the nation’s largest electric conglomerates failed. It, too, was left turned off.

Those three unrelated things—two faulty monitoring programs and one generator outage—weren’t catastrophic, in and of themselves. But they would eventually help create one of the most widespread blackouts in history. By 4:15 pm, 256 power plants were offline and 55 million people in eight states and Canada were in the dark. The Northeast Blackout of 2003 ended up costing us between $4 billion and $10 billion. That’s “billion”, with a “B”.

But this is about more than mere bad luck. The real causes of the 2003 blackout were fixable problems, and the good news is that, since then, we’ve made great strides in fixing them. The bad news, say some grid experts, is that we’re still not doing a great job of preparing our electric infrastructure for the future.

A good overview of how the electric grid is managed, and what some of the vulnerabilities are.

Sounds like as usual, people are not willing to invest in infrastructure, and then end up paying more to patch the problems that come up.

But I really detest the whole centralized nature of the power grid. It's just wrong to put all the eggs in one basket like that.

 

[MisterHappy]

Edison's original idea was to have a power station on each block - mostly because DC is not amenable to long-distance transmission at "useful" voltages.

While this may have decentralized the grid, most people would not want a powerplant in their neighborhood (especially when King Coal was the way to go).

We're stuck with what evolved over the last century. Old tech married to new tech. Never ideal, but the vast majority of the time, it works.

ANd have your own generator, and a few oil lamps... it's the only way to be sure.

 

[Palladin]

This is what I'm betting on.....total blackout from solar activity

 

[mbaz73]

The DoD admits that our power grid is extremely vulnerable to a variety of threats including terrorist, geomagnetic, earthquakes, etc...

http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/27/dod-official-vulnerability-of-u-s-electrical-grid-is-a-dire-concern/

 

[ShadeWPI]

I was asked to serve as a technical adviser by a novelist on this subject. It resulted in a call from the Department of Homeland Security.

 

[coastie]

I was asked to serve as a technical adviser by a novelist on this subject. It resulted in a call from the Department of Homeland Security.

Care to elaborate? What novel?

 

[hminsky]

I was asked to serve as a technical adviser by a novelist on this subject. It resulted in a call from the Department of Homeland Security.

My impression is that the Department of Homeland Security is far too busy wasting billions of dollars on useless airport security to both with something difficult like making the power grid more resilient. What an unbelievable waste of money.

 

[Coyote33]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=california+grid+testing&btnK=

 

[ShadeWPI]

Care to elaborate? What novel?

Elaboration:
I was asked by a long time friend for some technical advice regarding a novel that was in the works. The story line involved an extended disruption of a sizable section of the power grid and the author wanted to provide a technically accurate and plausible method to accomplish that intentionally. I worked something up for the author.

During the editorial process, the author discussed the book's details with an official in Homeland Security. This prompted a response by that officials office that included getting in touch with me.

What Book?
I have an agreement with the novelist and can not identify the book until after its published.

 

[ShadeWPI]

My impression is that the Department of Homeland Security is far too busy wasting billions of dollars on useless airport security to both with something difficult like making the power grid more resilient. What an unbelievable waste of money.

Airport security is economic. Travel generates lots of money. If people don't feel safe, they don't travel. If people feel safe, they travel. Providing the facade of security in the transportation system improves confidence and thus economic activity.

Also, there have been many more attacks on the US transportation system than on the US Power system. A short term regional power disruption may be a serious inconvience, but it lacks the fear and terror aspect of killing innocent passengers using the transportation system. Power Outages, even extended ones, rarely result in deaths. They're simply not as effective a tool, so they're less often targetted.

Even in Isreal, one of the most active terrorist areas in the world, the power grid is rarely attacked.

 

[Zarathustra11]

The problem is, whether or not the government funds the required infrastructure to support the grid going down temporarily, they realize there is a much larger issue looming capable of permanently disrupting and/or disabling our power grid for good. We all know that the magnetic poles have been shifting, many scientists firmly believe the magnetic pole reversal is presently underway. If this is true, it would tend to make some sense of the highly secretive and massive underground construction of facilities our government has been so busy building. Look also at China, building ghost cities and all the extensive underground tunneling they've been doing. The article linked captures the basic information, but there is more.

I don't mean to be alarmist but I have followed this information quietly for some time, and it tends to explain the reaction of governments as to why they simply do not order more generators or provide the required resources- it's because they don't believe it will make a difference! I think that people should understand that one day they may wake up without power, and it may never come back. I could be wrong, but we know that magnetic reversals have happened in the past, it's only a matter of time now with the way the poles have been slipping lately and the strange activities of our magnetosphere.

 

[namedpipes]

Even in Isreal, one of the most active terrorist areas in the world, the power grid is rarely attacked.

Blackouts actually produce MORE of us infidels about 9mos later. Self defeating plan for the terrorists.

When you can, please let us know the name of the book. Sounds interesting.

 

[ShadeWPI]

When you can, please let us know the name of the book. Sounds interesting.

I will.

 

[Coyote33]

I wonder what this summer holds. I just read today that a nuclear power plant in California just closed up permanently.

 

[BerkshireHunter]

So I should quit dragging my feet on procuring better radio equipment? I need a shortwave.

 

[Coyote33]

So I should quit dragging my feet on procuring better radio equipment? I need a shortwave.

Check this out:
UV-5R

 

[Palladin]

I wonder what this summer holds. I just read today that a nuclear power plant in California just closed up permanently.

Can you say 'Solar Flares?"

Watch 'Revolution' and go from there.