Aug 14 - The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
Five years ago this afternoon, a blackout began near Cleveland and sent
waves of power outages to 50 million people in seven states and southern
Ontario.
The darkness stretched as far as New York and Toronto.
And yet much of Ohio, including Columbus and Cincinnati, didn't lose power,
despite close proximity to the problem's source.
Government investigations later showed that Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp.
failed to properly respond to a power surge, an error that was compounded by
failures in other parts of the system.
In the years since, fines were paid, systems were upgraded, and many reports
were written. But the question remains: Could a similar blackout happen
today?
"It is far less likely that it would happen today, but that doesn't mean it
won't happen," said Scott Moore, vice president for transmission operations
at American Electric Power.
David Cleaver, an electrical engineer for the Ohio Office of Consumers'
Counsel, agrees. He said the blackout led to a regulatory overhaul that
reduced, but did not eliminate, the chances of another blackout.
"The processes have improved. Safeguards are in place," he said.
Eight months after the 2003 incident, a panel of the American and Canadian
governments issued a 238-page report about what happened and how it could
have been prevented.
The report has an almost minute-by-minute account of the day, a Thursday,
when summer heat led to high energy demand for air conditioning in the
FirstEnergy system. By midafternoon, the high energy usage caused
high-voltage lines to sag. Lines in the Cleveland-Akron area came into
contact with trees and short-circuited.
The damage might have been limited to the local area, except that
FirstEnergy's alarm system failed. The company didn't know about the problem
and didn't warn neighboring utilities about the surge that was developing.
AEP, the Columbus-based utility whose coverage area borders FirstEnergy's,
saw evidence of the power disruption about a half hour after it began. This
began several hours of frantic communication.
AEP was able to absorb the surge and make quick adjustments to its system.
Only a few thousand AEP customers lost power.
Meanwhile, the surge rippled east into Pennsylvania. It passed through AEP's
coverage area into Michigan and continued outward.
The blackout dominated the national media in the United States and Canada.
Rumors circulated about possible causes, including freak lightning strikes
on power plants and sabotage by terrorists.
Alan Schriber, chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio since
1999, was in many ways the public face for Ohio's role in the crisis.
He was interviewed on national newscasts, and he later testified before
Congress and served on the U.S.-Canada task force.
"It was quite an experience, which I don't want to go through again," he
said.
Two years later, President Bush signed an energy-policy bill that set
reliability standards for the electricity grid, which was one of the
commission's recommendations.
The standards, along with voluntary action by the utilities, have led to
changes in how power companies communicate with one another and to upgrades
to the equipment that detects disturbances.
Schriber said the changes have sharply reduced the chances of a similar
event.
AEP made it through the blackout with almost no damage. Moore, AEP's vice
president for transmission, said the company's performance was a combination
of luck and superior equipment.
AEP's transmission lines closest to the Akron-Canton area could carry 765
kilovolts, while FirstEnergy had 345-kilovolt lines. Transmission lines are
the major connectors, the interstate highways, between power sources and
local power distribution systems. The larger capacity of AEP's lines allowed
the company to absorb the power surge for long enough to make other
adjustments.
"It just depended on where it happened to occur," Moore said. "Not all of
AEP's system has the 765-kV backbone."
Since the blackout, AEP, FirstEnergy and other utilities have upgraded their
computer systems to provide employees with a more detailed picture of the
power system, and to allow quicker response to problems. The companies also
have changed their procedures for communicating with one another in
emergencies.
Steps have been taken to reduce the cascading effect of the outages. Moore
said the spread of the blackout, particularly in Michigan, was because
systems automatically shut off when they actually were mechanically capable
of handling the high power levels. Utilities have changed the automatic
settings to allow for higher power levels.
"If we did see a similar power surge, the system should be able to ride
through it better than '03," Moore said.
Looking ahead, AEP is working to expand its high-capacity lines. The company
announced this week that it is working with Duke Energy to spend $1 billion
on 765-kilovolt lines in Indiana. The roughly 240 miles of lines will help
protect the flow of energy to Ohio customers.
Michael Morris, AEP's chief executive, emphasized the reliability of the
system when he announced the Indiana project.
"A reliable supply of electricity is fundamental to our quality of life and
economic growth," he said.
The blackout showed how fragile that reliability can be.
dgearino@dispatch.com
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