10 years after blackout, US grid faces new threats
The U.S. electrical grid is better managed and more flexible a decade after its largest blackout but remains vulnerable to increasingly extreme weather, cybersecurity threats, and stress caused by shifts in where and how power is produced.
Many worry the grid isn't fully prepared for the new and emerging challenges, even though an analysis conducted for The Associated Press shows maintenance spending has steadily increased since North America's largest blackout.
"This job of reliability is kind of impossible, in the sense that there's just so many things that could happen that it's hard to be sure that you're covering all the bases," said William Booth, a senior electricity adviser with the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The industry has mostly addressed the failures blamed on a tree branch in Ohio that touched a power line and set off outages that cascaded across eight states and parts of Canada the afternoon of Aug. 14, 2003, darkening computer screens, halting commuter trains, and cutting lights and air conditioners for 50 million people. Grid operators who didn't initially realize what was happening now have a nearly real-time view of the system and are better equipped to stop problems from growing. Utilities share more information and systematically trim trees near high-voltage power lines.
full: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/10-years-after-blackout-us-grid-faces-new-threats
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The reliability with which utility companies and system operators are able to deliver good electricity is amazing.
I've visited various facilities, one just last week and the CAISO on two occasions, and it's still a miracle to me that they can provide constant 60Hz 120V AC current and be able to meet demand with instantaneous generation moment by moment.
Amazing.
And yes, I heard some figures last week. Cyber attacks that made are often against utilities.
