Ten years ago today, large portions of the midwest and northeast united states and into canada went dark. Technical analysis of the august 14, 2003, blackout nerc. A case study of the 2003 north american power outage key questions what were the main vulnerabilities and threats related to the electricity subsector of the energy sector at the time of the blackout. The northeast blackout of 2003 led utilities and the government to team up to install a phasor network throughout the united states. Satellite images of the night before left and night after right the 14 august 2003 blackout.
Most places restored power by midnight, as early as 6 p. The atlantic has put together a photo essay of the event and how it impacted new yorkers, including those stuck in the citys transit systems. We investigated mortality in new york, ny, during the largest blackout in us history august 1415, 2003. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and the canadian province of ontario on thursday. By placing phasor measurement units at critical points in the. Software bug contributed to blackout kevin poulsen, securityfocus 20040211. The northeast blackout of 2003 in august 2003, a massive power outage occurred in northeastern us and eastern canada.
Most did not get their power back until two days later. The ohio phase of the august 14, 2003, blackout was caused by deficiencies in specific practices, equipment, and human decisions by various organizations that affected conditions and out comes that afternoonfor example, insufficient reactive power was an issue in the blackout, but it was not a cause in itself. Did a ninja squirrel cause the northeast blackout in 2003. Sign up for the complex newsletter for breaking news, events, and unique. By thinkreliability staff on august 14, 2003, over 50 million people in the u. Nerc worked closely with the joint uscanada task force and all affected entities to investigate the causes of the august 14, 2003 blackout. Ten years after the 2003 northeast blackout, much has changed tuesday, august, 20 at 8. The outage affected an area with an estimated 50 million people and 61,800 megawatts mw of electric load in the states of ohio, michigan, pennsylvania, new york, vermont, massachusetts, connect. Grand central terminal on august 14, 2003 getty images today in 2003, the northeastern united states and canada went into.
Final report on the august 14, 2003 blackout in the united. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and the canadian province of ontario on thursday, august 14, 2003, just after 4. A map of the states and provinces affected by the w. Significant information and reports about the blackout investigation are posted below. Impact of northeast blackout continues to emerge by jeremy johnson and alex lefebvre 20 august 2003 the blackout that began last thursday, cutting electrical power to more than 50 million. Created by laura cronin, conor mccarter, and stephanie tilden. Rm, northeast blackout of 2003 northeast blackout of 2003, uncontroversially moved, 28 september 2011, request a fact from this article was featured on wikipedia s main page in the on this day section on august 14, 2004 and august 14, 2005. Business continuity lessons from the blackout of 2003 cio. In a matter of seconds, large portions of ohio, michigan, pennsylvania, massachusetts, new york, connecticut, new. Areas affected extended from new york, massachusetts, and new jersey west to michigan, and from ohio north to toronto and ottawa, ontario. Take a look at the major power outages over many years, and see that the problems we face are not because we arent building enough power plants. Aug 14, 2003 the northeast blackout of 2003 wikipedia august 14, 2003 the northeast blackout of 2003 was a massive widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and ontario, canada on thursday, august 14, 2003, at approximately 4. The task force responsible for investigating the cause of the aug. Aug, 2008 the 2003 northeast blackout five years later.
Where there have been notable power cuts, the location is usually given. The relevant root cause information is included below. Remembering the 2003 northeastern blackout in toronto. This greatly exaggerates the actual area of the blackout. Applying lessons learned from one of the biggest blackouts.
What began as a software bug in the electrical grid of ohio soon escalated into a catastrophic event that left nearly 45 million americans without power, ultimately becoming the worst blackout in north. This gives a measure of the cost of reliability of. The report makes clear that this blackout could have been prevented and that immediate actions must be taken in both the united states and canada to ensure that our electric system is more reliable. On august 14, 2003, an enormous electrical blackout struck the northeast and upper midwest of the united states and a large part of western ontario, canada, leaving about or aboot in the great white north 55 million people without electricity for a period lasting between 7 hours and 2 days. Grid better prepared to prevent a repeat of the 2003 blackout. Business continuity lessons from the blackout of 2003. Remembering the 2003 northeast blackout photos wsj.
Ten years later, we are still grappling with concerns over the vulnerability of. How and why the blackout began in ohio summary this chapter explains the major eventselectrical, computer, and humanthat occurred as the blackout evolved on august 14, 2003, and identifies the. Northeast blackout of 2003 or north america blackout of 2003. The southwest blackout of 2003 1218 words bartleby. Set in a fictionalized version of chicago, the plot follows hacker aiden pearces search for revenge after the killing of his niece. The great north america blackout the story shortly after 4 p. The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific american. Many others did not get their power back until two days later. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states, and the canadian province of ontario on august 1428, 2003, beginning just after 4. Northeast blackout of 1965, northeast blackout of 2003, list of power outages, new york city blackout of 1977, rolling blackout, black start, 2006 queens blackout, ice storm of december 2005, 2009 brazil and paraguay blackout, march 1989 geomagnetic storm, 2003 london blackout, 1999 southern brazil blackout, 2003 italy blackout, 1996. Canada power system outage task force final report on the august 14, 2003 blackout in the united states and canada.
One of them was buried in a massive piece of software compiled from four million lines of c code and running on an energy management computer in ohio. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and the canadian province of ontario on thursday, august 14, 2003, just before 4. Its been 15 years since the 2003 blackout that left metro. The map shows an entire state or province as red, when in some cases only a small portion e. Northeast blackout nyc august 14th15th, 2003 duration. Coverage from various new york stations about the northeast blackout of 2003.
Northeast blackout of 2003first energy outage reports. Impact of northeast blackout continues to emerge world. August 14, 20, will mark 10 years since more than 50 million people in the northeast were left in the dark after an overwhelmed electric system crashed int. Kingdon capital management lucked out with the northeast blackout of august 2003. Aug 14, 2003 a map of the states and provinces affected by the w. A look back at the historic 2003 northeast blackout we use cookies on this site to improve your experience as explained in our cookie policy. A previouslyunknown software flaw in a widelydeployed general electric energy management system contributed to the devastating scope of the august 14th northeastern u. Northeast blackout of 2003 your expert root cause analysis. Part one of a twopart series on the northeast blackout of 2003. Cause, software bug in the alarm system in the control room of firstenergy. Moving forward on lessons learned from the blackout of 2003. For more public eye satellite imagery, see the picture of the week gallery of satellite and other imagery of places in the news. Game informer s top shelterinplace playstation 4 games whether youre new to playstation 4 or have been playing it since launch, weve rounded up some games that may hit the right notes during the lockdown.
A look back at the historic 2003 northeast blackout. Eastern daylight time, a highvoltage power line in northern ohio brushed against some overgrown trees and shut downa fault, as its known in the power. Investigators found several factorsalarm system issues, software bugs, and an overloaded. Its been 15 years since the 2003 blackout that left metro detroit in the dark duration. Another pdf file to the final analysis of the 2003 power blackour in the ne united states. Biggest power outages in us history a presentation of current solutions pc 2. The first stage was to bring generators back in service. What was the cost of the northeast blackout of 2003. Jan 27, 2015 an analysis of the causes and consequences of the northeast blackout of 2003. Aug 14, 2019 blackout hits northeast united states a major outage knocked out power across the eastern united states and parts of canada on august 14, 2003. Apr 01, 2003 another pdf file to the final analysis of the 2003 power blackour in the ne united states.
The blackout demonstrated the interconnected nature of the north american infrastructure. Its been a decade since the great northeast blackout cut power to over 45 million people across the northeastern and midwestern united states and 10 million people in. Ten years after the 2003 northeast blackout, much has changed. What will be key challenges for the resilience of the electricity subsector in the future. Tougher regulatory measures are in place, but were still a long way from a smart power grid. This article claims that the chinese peoples liberation army was behind, among other things, the august 2003 blackout computer hackers in china, including those working on behalf of the chinese government and military, have penetrated deeply into the information systems of u. The great northeast blackout of 2003 caused the failure of more than 508 generating units at 265 separate power plants, causing almost one in every six people in the united states to lose power for up to 2 days. Software failure cited in august blackout investigation. The cascading event, which started shortly after 4. The main cause of this disaster was a software bug in the energy management system used by firstenergy corporation, located in akron, ohio.
General topic, humor 17july2016 3august2016 bob radvanovsky as many people discovered from the postmortem of the northeast blackout of 2003, it was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and the canadian. The northeast blackout of 2003 was one of the most critical blackouts in the history which affected more than 50 million people in both the united states and canada. Software failure cited in august blackout investigation computerworld. The northeast blackout struck 15 years ago today extremetech. Aug 14, 20 ten years ago today, large portions of the midwest and northeast united states and into canada went dark. Originally posted on 08142017 edited are you better prepared today. We examined the public health effects of the northeast blackout of august 2003 and the emergency response to the blackout by the new york city department of health and mental hygiene dohmh. New york news coverage of the northeast blackout of 2003. School of electrical and computer engineering, purdue universitywestinghouse electric company llc windsor, ct 06095 abstractthe electrical grid is caught in a political and technological energy war over what can most efficiently, safely. A number of factors and failings came together to make the august 14th northeastern blackout the worst outage in north american history. Fifty million people were affected, including residents of new york, cleveland and detroit, as well as toronto and ottawa, canada.
The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the. Eastern daylight time, a highvoltage power line in northern ohio brushed against some overgrown. The nations electrical system has undergone some revampingmaybe still not enoughsince tens of millions in the. This loss of electricity was the largest blackout in north american history. On august 14, 2003, a series of faults caused by tree branches touching power lines in ohio, which were then complicated by human error, software issues, and equipment failures, led to the most widespread blackout in north american history. Call it a power outage, power cut, power blackout, power failure or a just blackout, nothing effects life more than an electrical power outage in 21st century. The 2003 blackout tested emergency procedures and training for the entire industry. Geckil, economist aeg working paper 2003 2 introduction on thursday, august 14, 2003, an electrical disruption caused a loss of electrical service to consumers and industry acro ss the northeast. Today marks the anniversary of the great northeast blackout of 2003 on august 14th, 2003, hot and humid weather conditions prevailed across the region straining utilities with the increased demand on electrical service.
Great northeast power blackout of 2003 satellite imagery. A major outage knocked out power across the eastern united states and parts of canada on august 14, 2003. The massive blackout prompts some companies to turn to providers of disaster recovery services, but it operations at many businesses appear safe thanks to. Our culture focused site covers games, their creators, the fans, trending stories and entertainment news. Edt eastern daylight time in the afternoon when the power went out, and what they did in the hours and days ahead until the power was restored from the northeast blackout of 2003. One way to estimate the economic costs of a power outage is to calculate consumers willingnesstopay wtp to avoid such outages. Remembering the northeast blackout of 2003 p3 generator. Polygon is a gaming website in partnership with vox media.
The blackout that exposed the flaws in the grid the new. Northeast blackout of 1965 or north america blackout of 1965. Et, 21 power plants shut down in just three minutes. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states, and the canadian province of ontario on august 14, 2003, beginning just after 4. California independent system operator tmw 41504 the northeast blackout ieee spring banquet san francisco chapter april 15, 2004 terry m. The blackout heavily impacted eight states in the northeast and ontario. On august 14 and beyond, many ontarians and torontonians might wish to remind themselves where they were on thursday august 14, 2003 at about 4. The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific. How a smarter grid could have prevented the 2003 u. The blackout demonstrated the interconnected nature of the north american infrastructure, and its vulnerability to small and. Its the system, not a shortage of power plants that is the problem. On august 14, 2003, large portions of the midwest and northeast united states and ontario, canada, experienced an electric power blackout. Chinese hackers may have been responsible for the recent power outage in florida, and the widespread blackout that struck the northeastern u.
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