The most significant Blackout in the history of the American people was a combination of all forces that could go wrong. Nature in trees, human fault, and software error brought about an electrical study that is a subject of discussion today. This paper aims to draw inferences from the reputable TCIPG seminar to answer some relevant questions. What went wrong in the power lines of Ohio years ago?
Who is the guest speaker (biography), and what role did he play in the 2003 blackout?
Thomas .J. Overbye is the guest speaker at the TCIPG monthly series of seminars. He is a researcher of repute at the TCIPG Centre. At the University of Illinois, he teaches Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is not only a lecturer but also a Fox Family professor.
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In the aftermath of the August 14 th 2003 Blackout, there was a commission of inquiry formed to investigate the incidence. Professor Overbye was a member of this team of experts and offered a wealth of experience. After the investigation of the incident, he participated in the making of the interview summaries. These summaries were later put in the report. He provides insight and looks back at the past and tries to relate them to this Seminar of the Power industry.
What were the potential causes of the Blackout? What were the actual causes of the Blackout?
The final report of the Blackout listed some four causes. They include
The first technical reason is that the FirstEnergy, an electrical utility, failed to acknowledge that the system they used was inadequate. There was a risk of voltage instability, and their system was not well compensated to deal with it.
There was a glaring lack of situational awareness by FE( FirstEnergy).
The overgrowth of trees was not looked into by the FirstEnergy utility firm. Their trees grew next to the wires and caused an electrical issue.
There was insufficient diagnostic support from several grid reliability organizations involved. MISO was named as one of the primary suspects of the companies that failed to see the condition of the system
The interaction between humans and cyber also played a role. They interconnected in the disaster that left a landmark in the history of the power industry.
What areas were impacted by this Blackout
Most areas of the North-Eastern of the United States were affected by the power blackout (Khattak et al., 2018). Some of these areas that were left in the dark of August 14 th include Ohio and even neighboring Canada. A satellite picture of the electrical network of the North-Eastern part shows the area before and after the Blackout. It shows New York was also impacted. Parts of New York are utterly unlit in the satellite image. The power out may have affected an estimate of 50 million people. However, areas such as Illinois were not affected. They remained in the light as other states grappled into the darkness of August 14th.
What can this event teach us as an industry
The final report on the power outage on August 14th had many recommendations. Some of these recommendations focused on how the operations of the interconnected power grid should have been. Others concentrated on the insecurity of the cyber and physical presence.
It teaches us about the catastrophic effect that a power-out would have on the economy. It would go up to the tune of $100 billion US dollars per year. It costs a loss of revenue to small, medium, and large enterprises as they have to search for alternative sources of power.
There should be an establishment of several control centers with map boards that shows the electrical network of each state (Haes et al., 2019). MISO is encouraged to have several follow up visits to each electrical substation utility regardless of the risk involved. Before the August 14 th 2003, Ohio was not thought of as a hotbed of electrical fault. After the catastrophe, was there any concern about checking the mistakes.
These suggested control rooms should employ the latest technology available. Today, there is the privilege of the use of sensitive computer sensors that can send back a signal in case of low or high voltage. These may be costly at the beginning, but past evidence shows that had precautionary measures taken on the day of the Blackout, these faults would have been avoided.
From the talk by Professor Overbye, FirstEnergy has hung alarms that failed to notify them of the impending danger. Specifically, the Chamberlin-Harding line, which was missing from the ECAR map. This signal would have notified of a tripped line and a breaker opening on MISO surveillance. This singular case, among many, shows the need for regular maintenance on the power lines and their surveillance systems.
The FirstEnergy and MISO information centers should be aligned to prevent an overload of calls and to isolate information that is essential.
The events of August 14th, 2003, may have been a singular event in the history of the power industry. However, there are several lessons to be learned from that day. There have been several upgrades to the technology of the energy grid system. However there is still a glaring deficit in our grid system.
References
The Genesis of the August 14th 2003 Blackout: The Grid, Math, Humans, and Trees | TCIPG: Trustworthy Cyber Infrastructure for the Power Grid. (2019). Retrieved 3 November 2019, from https://tcipg.org/events/seminars/genesis-august-14th-2003-blackout-grid-math-humans-and-trees
Khattak, M. A., Yahya, T. M. H. T., Mohd, M. W., Sallehhudin, M. I. M. G., Abdullah, N. A., Nordin, N. A., & Dzakurnain, N. A. M. M. (2018). Energy Security Policy Shift of North America and Ontario, Canada Following 2003 Power Blackout: A Review. Progress in Energy and Environment , 4 , 14-24.
Haes Alhelou, H., Hamedani-Golshan, M. E., Njenda, T. C., & Siano, P. (2019). A survey on power system blackout and cascading events: Research motivations and challenges. Energies , 12 (4), 682.
