Sweet, W. (2003, Aug 1). The Blackout of 2003. IEEE Spectrum.

Retrieved from:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/the-smarter-grid/the-blackout-of-2003

What: Blackout/ Power outage

When:
- Blackout happened on afternoon of 14 August 2003.
- Major difficulties in the electric power system predicted by 3 u.s departments of energy
studies going back to 1998.
Where:
- Black out started in facilities owned by First Energy Corp. (akron Ohio)
- Business and residences from NY to Cleveland, Detroit and Toronto/Ontario)
- Michigan, New jersey, Conneticut
How:
- One of the coal-fired power plants began to behave oddly and was taken off
- One of the companys major transmission lines failed.
- Alarm system did not operate properly and first energy did not give regional regulators
and organizations in adjacent states any warnings or mishap
- Demand for electricity outgrew additions to transmission capacities by a factor of two
- ISO (independent system operators) lacked adequate authority to get transmission
lines built and transmission services properly priced
Why/timeline:
- 3:06pm one of the companys major transmission lines failed
- 3:32,3:41, 3:46 pm three more transmission line failed (2 owned by ohio utility and
other by American electric power.
-
Important Quotes
- we all knew something like this was coming along- leader in 1999 doe study of the
transmission grid
- everybody in the business knew something like this was going to happen. IT wasnt a
question of whether but when. Karl Stahlkopf, executive at Hawaii electric co.
previously managed power system research at the electric power institute
Whos to blame?
- First Energy of Ohio was blamed due to its history of bad business- (first energy owns
and operates Davis-besse nuclear power plant east of Toledo. The plant was found to
suffered such severe corrosion in the cap)
- First energy had had difficulties with regulators. Included penalties for violation of
health, safety, and environmental rules.
- First energy had billions of dollars of debt associated with its acquisition in 2001. 3
mile island nuclear plant that suffered a near meltdown in 1979)
- Several states and their unsuccessful ISOs. Example California was lazy and did want
to improve or redo their ISO design.
- ** (federal energy regulatory commission )Fercs effort to get an RTO ( Regional
Transmission organization)
- due to local regulatory authorities, and two titanically powerful utilities,
American Electric Power and First energy. After a couple of years , Ferc rejected the
proposed alliance RTO in 2001.

METHODS USED TO FIX THE SYSTEM FOUND AT LINK





widespread

making


















Williams. B. (2003, Aug 29). Response to Questions Posed By the House Energy and
Commerce Committee Concerning the Northeast Blackout of August 2003 IEEE-
USA. Retrieved from:
http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/policy/2003/082903.html
What: August 14
th
Black out
When: August 14
th


Where:
- Cleveland and Ohio. First Energy generators
How:
- Loss of first energys Eastlake generating station in Cleveland
- Loss of three overloaded 345 kV transmission lines in Ohio, south of Cleveland
- Losing a generator results in:1. imbalance between load and generation which is
immediately by other generators in the system altering many flows in the network. 2.
Reduced ability to maintain the voltage in the neighborhood of the generator. Loss of
the ability to regulate system voltage triggers cascading power failures)
- Electrical controls areas ( ISO, RTO or utilities) are interconnected and operate as a
single system, the outage of a facility on one control area routinely affects power flows
on adjacent or remote areas
-
Why:
- Cascade occurs when balance between load, generation and transmission system flows
is disrupted when one ore more elements of the electrical grid fails or trips out of
service.
- Operators did not redispatch to relieve any additional overloads during the first and
second outages
- Line failures caused separation of the system. Ex. Newyork could not and experienced
abnormal power flows and shut itself down to protect themselves. Shutdowns left NY
with insufficient amount of power causing the black out.
- Ever since the 1965 blackout, systems like new York and ohio have been more closely
coupled.

Single contingency- Engineers to the first outage as this. Elements of the system should be able
to absorb the changes of power flow resulting from one outage.
Systems must be rapidly returned to a stable state such that the system will be able to sustain the
outage of any further component. Timeliness is a key factor of restoration,





Future Work: How can nations electrical system including both transmission capacity and
reliability be improved to prevent august 14
th
blackout from happening again.????
- An institutional framework for the industry. 1. Mandatory reliability standards 2. Clear
regulatory boundaries between the federal government and the states 3. Regional
planning process and criteria, 4. Design policies that limit failures 5. Incentives for new
technologies, 6. Federal siting backstop authority 7. Procedures for demonstrating
compliance.
- Adequate resources to meet customer demands. ( type, size and capacity) ( the capacities
were overloaded due to outages and could not fulfill this task)
- Coordinated and integrated operation of the transmission system.
- Timely recovery
- GRID INVESTMENT, GRID OPERATION, GRID COORDINATION

Mansbridge. P. ( 2013 Jul. 11) 2003: The great North America blackout. CBC. Retrieved
from:
http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/economy-business/energy/energy-general/the-great-
2003-north-america-blackout.html
Who: 50 (USA: CAN = 40:10 mill) million north americans without power. Toronto, New
York, Cleveland and Ottawa
When: August 14.2003. shortly after 4 pm.
What: power outage causing loss of traffic lights, businesses, subways, airports.
Quebec not affected because power supply is not part of the lake erie transmission loop.
Powerlines from a first energy generating plant in a suburb of Cleveland had shutdown.
Technical glitch meant the proper alarms didnt show up on their control system, so the first
energy wasnt able to react to warn anyone.