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Matt Meiser
09-09-2011, 9:16 AM
How'd you like to be this guy?

One man blamed for massive blackout (http://www.yahoo.com/_ylt=Akh7mVFXZI2l_VvmfKEjRL6bvZx4;_ylu=X3oDMTVtM2Z wZmMwBGEDMTEwODA5IG5ld3Mgc3cgcG93ZXIgb3V0YWdlIG9uZ SBtYW4gdARjY29kZQNwemJ1ZmNhaDUEY3BvcwMxBGVkAzEEZwN pZC00OTk2NDEEaW50bAN1cwRpdGMDMARtY29kZQNwemJ1YWxsY 2FoNQRtcG9zAzEEcGtndAMxBHBrZ3YDMTIEcG9zAzIEc2VjA3R kLWZlYQRzbGsDdGl0bGUEdGVzdAM0MzUEd29lAzEyNzc4NjI4/SIG=132tldhp9/EXP=1315660528/**http%3A//news.yahoo.com/power-returning-us-southwest-major-outage-103032517.html)

At least when it happened up here they could blame a tree.

Jim Rimmer
09-09-2011, 9:43 AM
I googled a few sites and the utility is being pretty closed mouth about what exactly happened. One guy removing a piece of monitoring equipment? :confused: There has to be more to it than that.

glenn bradley
09-09-2011, 10:00 AM
The press release seems inadequate to explain the impact. If it truly was that easy, we need a full audit of our electrical suppliers. Be that as it may, I happened to be in San Diego and made the run from Mom and Dad's place in North County. Left when there was power, arrived at the hotel when there wasn't. The greatest impact was no romantic dinner with LOML at an Italian place I had picked out weeks ago. We walked to one of the local honky tonks and imbibed, visited and laughed a lot. Oh yeah, no free hot breakfast at the hotel this morning either; just fruit, juice and coffee (oh the humanity).

Dave Gaul
09-09-2011, 10:13 AM
I googled a few sites and the utility is being pretty closed mouth about what exactly happened. One guy removing a piece of monitoring equipment? :confused: There has to be more to it than that.

Agreed. I work in this industry, specifically with the operation of the High Voltage Transmission Systems, >100kV up to 500kV. Removing a single component of anything, especially monitoring equipment, should never cause any type of outage, especially not a blackout!

Jim Rimmer
09-09-2011, 10:28 AM
Agreed. I work in this industry, specifically with the operation of the High Voltage Transmission Systems, >100kV up to 500kV. Removing a single component of anything, especially monitoring equipment, should never cause any type of outage, especially not a blackout!

I worked as a vendor/contractor to the nuclear industry for several years but we were on the "steam side" of the turbine where you are on the "power side". But I agree, removing a single component shouldn't shut off power to 12 million people.

Matt Meiser
09-09-2011, 10:36 AM
Well, but wasn't a single fault in NE Ohio found to be the cause of the in the Northeast? If he caused some kind of fault couldn't it be similar?

Either that or his boss really doesn't like him!

Dave Gaul
09-09-2011, 12:14 PM
Well, but wasn't a single fault in NE Ohio found to be the cause of the in the Northeast? If he caused some kind of fault couldn't it be similar?

Either that or his boss really doesn't like him!

For one, a fault is much different than just removing a piece of equipment from service. We remove equipment for repairs & testing everyday all over the transmission system.

Secondly, to answer your question, no! It was more than just one fault in NE Ohio. There were a multitude of problems that day, all combine for one giant recipe for failure! The main issues were hot weather/heavy power usage, some key generation stations offline (due to internal problems), improper tree clearances in the right-of-ways, and some computer issues that prevented system operators from knowing of some problems. You can find online a report published by the DOE that can explain further if you'd like.

Matt Meiser
09-09-2011, 12:40 PM
What I meant though is wasn't the fault what started the dominoes falling?

Dave Gaul
09-09-2011, 3:34 PM
What I meant though is wasn't the fault what started the dominoes falling?

Yes, in a word. Many things happened before that, but when one line sagged due to overheating from excessive loading, it came in contact with a tree, and that trigger the start of the blackout. In most cases, something like that wouldn't cause a widespread blackout, but when the stars are aligned....

Matt Meiser
09-09-2011, 3:53 PM
Sounds like several contacts with trees in Ohio actually, according to the chronology on this Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Blackout_of_2003 A guy I used to work with has an great story about a night spent in his car in a hotel parking lot outside Toronto that night. He was supposed to be coming home that afternoon and had skipped lunch so he could leave a little earlier. He had no cash, his car was low on gas, cell service was out, and since he had checked out of the hotel that morning, they wouldn't let him check back in since the power was out.

Anyway, I'm just wondering if the "one guy" theory is similar--he cause the event which by itself shouldn't have done anything, but several things aligned to make it a bad day.

Or like I said, maybe his boss just really doesn't like him.

Phil Thien
09-09-2011, 6:55 PM
Don't remove the flux capacitors. Duh.

Brian Kent
09-09-2011, 7:46 PM
I agree that the problem was not with one guy, but with failure of "fail-safes" that one person's actions could trigger such an event.

John McClanahan
09-09-2011, 11:01 PM
I heard on the news that the monitoring equipment was removed because it was defective. No other details were given.

Damon Stathatos
09-09-2011, 11:38 PM
...But I agree, removing a single component shouldn't shut off power to 12 million people.

Didn't you ever watch 'Mr. Magoo' when you were a kid ? He could have done it and been completely oblivious both during and after the fact, griping when he got home to no air and no TV.