ERMUSR MISC. ISSUES 01-13-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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both politicians and the public just pal author and editor of The the woodwork, but I cannot imag- how dependent we are as a nation Energy Antitrust Handbook. "This ine that to be the case. It wasn't just on electricity. was a wake-up call that should a particular city like it was in "When you can't go up and result in significant action." Manhattan years ago. It was a big down in your elevator, can't get "I consider this a watershed deal and it was international with water, can't get your car out of the event," adds Richard Michelfelder, Canada involved. The attention garage, you are reminded how assistant professor of finance at will not wane. Investment will important electricity is," says Rutgers University and former occur and changes will happen. As James Serota, a shareholder and executive at electric utility Atlantic to how much and how many years head of the antitrust department of Energy. "There are folks that are will go by before we see this, that Greenberg & Truarig, and princi- concerned that this will fade into remains to be seen." • - Anatomy of A Power Failure AU.S./Canada power outage task force reports netted from the system due to a brush fire under a filed on September 12,2003 details the sequence portion of the line. Hot gases from a fire can ionize of events of the outage before and during the cascade the air above a transmission line, causing the air to that led to the blackout on August 14, 2003. The conduct electricity and short-circuit the conductors. report shows the events beginning on August 14 and provides a "picture" of the sequence of events and 3:05:41 - 3:41:33 PM – Transmission lines discon- how the grid situation evolved over the afternoon. It nect between eastern Ohio and northern Ohio focuses chiefly on events that occurred on major • 3:05:41 –Harding-Chamberlain 345 kV transmission facilities (230 kilovolts and greater)and • 3:32:03 –Hanna Juniper 345 kV at large power plants. • 3:41:33 –Star-South Canton 345 kV The timeline provides an early picture of what happened. Most of the events that appear to have These three transmission lines are part of the path- contributed to the blackout occurred during the peri- way into northern Ohio from eastern Ohio. At this od from about noon EDT until 4:13 p.m. EDT time, the reason for the Harding-Chamberlain line Generation and transmission operating events plus going out of service is unknown. The Hanna-Juniper scheduled interchange through the systems in the line contacted a tree, creating a short-circuit to region may have affected events later in the day. The ground that task force is studying these events beginning at 8 a.m. caused the line to disconnect itself. The Star-South on August 14 to determine whether they were signif- Canton line had disconnected and reclosed twice ear- icant to the blackout. her in the day, but the significance of those events is not yet clear. Events Leading to the Blackout With these lines disconnected, the effectiveness of the transmission path from eastern Ohio into the 12:05:44 - 1:31:34 PM–Generator trips northern Ohio area was reduced. The electricity that • 12:05:44–Conesville Unit 5 (rating 375 MW) had been flowing over these lines instantly began • 1:14:04–Greenwood Unit 1 (rating 785 MW) flowing over other transmission lines, including the • 1:31:34 –Eastlake Unit 5 (rating: 597 MW) underlying 138 kV systems, that connect northern Ohio to the grid. However, this new power flow pat- Conesville plant is in central Ohio and Greenwood tern began to overload those other lines as well. As plant is north of the Detroit area. Greenwood Unit 1 voltage was dropping, demand of about 600 MW tripped at 1:14:04 and returned to service at 1:57. disconnected in the northern Ohio area from indus- Eastlake Unit 5 is in northern Ohio along the south- trial customers (whose motors dropped off line due em shore of Lake Erie and is connected to the 345 kV to low voltage) and distribution-level customers who transmission system. These generating unit trips were disconnected automatically from the 138 and (shutdowns) caused the electric power flow pattern 69 kV transmission system. to change over the transmission system. 3:45:33-4:08:58 PM–Remaining transmission lines Y 2:02 PM – Transmission line disconnects in south- disconnect from eastern into northern Ohio f' western Ohio • 3:45:33 –Canton Central-Tidd 345 kV •Stuart–Atlanta 345 kV • 4:06:03 –Sammis-Star 345 kV .- This line is part of the transmission pathway from Canton Central-Tidd disconnected at 3:45:33 and southwestern Ohio into northern Ohio. It discon- reconnected 58 seconds later. However, the Canton 4th Quarter 2003 I 31