"Blackout" Who is to blame? (Part One)
By Jose Reyes 8/22/03
On August 14, 2003, at 4:10 P.M., 8 days ago, there was a massive power outage in the Northeast as a result to an electrical overload. 50 Million Americans and Canadians were suddenly out of juice within seconds. Who is to Blame?
The initial finger-pointing process started when the State of New York blamed Canada for the overload. The Niagara Mohawk Power Grid, which is located on the Niagara River, by the famous Niagara Falls was the initial culprit. New York blamed Canada for overloading this Grid, which in turn, created a "Cascading" power outage up North of the border to Toronto and Ottawa and South to Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and West to Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan. (See Map) Well, Canada in defense, blamed New York for this mismanagement of power. Then after a few days all the focus turned to the Ohio Grid.
The power outage also shut down cellular services because there was no power to supply the cell sites which house the antennas that transmit calls.
President Bush blamed the whole system stating that it was " a wake-up call to America", to push the power companies to replace the aging power grids in both the United States and Canada.
"Picture
of The FirstEnergy Power Corp" in
Eastlake, Ohio
What exactly started this cascade and how exactly did it happen?
Well, there is no conclusive evidence that will show the exact location of where the outage started. We must give the experts a chance to evaluate the "system". Reports show that the city of Cleveland was the first to go then Detroit then Canada and most of the Northeastern States. I guess that because Cleveland lost electricity first, the experts are focusing their investigation there. Also, there were 3 events that occurred near the Ohio Grid, just before the electricity was lost; 1. A tree branch that shorted a high voltage line south of Cleveland, 2. The failure of a coil-fired generator, 3. An automated warning system malfunction. These events could and most likely would have knockdown the city of Cleveland and because the Ohio Grid is near there, it could have shut down also, but that's where it should have stopped.
The North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) along with a U.S.-Canadian task force are in charge of the investigation.
< I will have periodical reports on this investigation. I will also try to explain, in layman's terms, how Grids work and how electricity is distributed throughout the U.S.>
To be Continued....
