Engineering Ethics

2003: Northeast Blackout 173

AN ENGINEERING PERSPECTIVE

In 1996 two large-scale power outages occurred in July and August in

the Pacific Northwest. Unknowingly, on August 10 the operators config-

ured their system in a condition in which outage of the Keeler-Allston line

led to cascading outages. During both the July and August failures, protec-

tion of generator field current excitation equipment failed at the McNary

hydro plant. Based on a subsequent investigation by the Western System

Coordinating Council, power engineers recommended substantial system

changes to improve voltage support stability, to minimize power oscillation

damping, and to improve simulation modeling (WSCC, 1996; Taylor, 1999).

Later, after widespread power outages in the summer of 1999, power

engineers in a Department of Energy outage study team investigated root

causes.Although only local causes were detailed in their report, it was gen-

erally accepted by the power industry at this time that the amount of gen-

erating capacity available during peak demand was shrinking throughout

the country. Further, the transmission system was being subjected to flows

in magnitudes and directions that had not been studied or for which there

was minimal operating experience. Maintenance of the distribution infra-

structure had suffered in recent years because utilities had been pressed

for time and money. Finally, NERC at this time asked for legislative

authority to make compliance with its rule-making mandatory, rather than

voluntary (Sweet, 2000).

Even when the much-discounted National Energy Policy report was

issued in 2001 by Vice-President Dick Cheney, it admitted the lack of

capacity in the grid to satisfy demand. However, the report urged that new

transmission lines be built, rather than that the existing grid become more

efficient (Sweet, 2001). Based on these and other reports, when the

Northeast blackout occurred on August 14, 2003, power engineers and

IEEE had been sounding the alarm on potential grid failures for almost a

decade (Background to the blackout, 2003).

REFERENCES

Background to the blackout: a compendium of IEEE Spectrum material, IEEE Spectrum Web

Special Report, August 21, 2003. http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/special/aug03/

comp.html.

Barron, J., The blackout of 2003: The overview; power surge blacks out Northeast, hitting cities

in 8 states and Canada; midday shutdowns disrupt millions. NY Times,A1, August 15, 2003.

Linzer, D., Power blackout is latest of first energy problems. Wash Times, B1, August 17, 2003.

McClure, G. F., Electric power transmission reliability not keeping up with conservation

efforts, IEEE Today’s Engineer, Feb, 2005.

Ch14-P088531.qxd 2/22/06 11:48 AM Page 173