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. Significant information and reports about the blackout investigation are posted below. Investigators found several factorsalarm system issues, software bugs, and an overloaded. The cascading event, which started shortly after 4.
The great north america blackout the story shortly after 4 p. Photo of a toronto street corner during the 2003 blackout by john. Ten years ago today, large portions of the midwest and northeast united states and into canada went dark. Ultimately, however, the issues raised by the blackout go far beyond that, which may be why doe took charge of the inquriy on 20 august. The 2003 northeast blackout five years later tougher regulatory measures are in place, but were still a long way from a smart power grid by jr minkel on august, 2008. The northeast blackout struck 15 years ago today extremetech. The economic cost of the blackou t an issue paper on the northeastern blackout, august 14, 200 3. In more remote areas it took nearly a week to restore power.
Much larger than the northeast blackout of 1965, in america alone, this blackout affected 45 million people in 8 states. Well, the aging utility grid, overgrown trees and the software of firstenergy corp. Software bug contributed to blackout securityfocus. Considered one of the worst blackouts in history, the northeast blackout was caused by a software bug. 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. Fifty million people were affected, including residents of new york, cleveland and detroit, as well as toronto and ottawa, canada. Software bug contributed to blackout it failures in the great us blackout sparks. 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. Technical analysis of the august 14, 2003, blackout nerc. 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. There are other issues that are higher probability that need to be addressed.
Abstractin august of 2003, a series of cascading line trips and generator outages caused over 55 million customers to lose access to electrical power. The department of energy and natural resources canada jointly commissioned a task force that. Remembering the 2003 northeastern blackout in toronto. Details on the exact extent and duration for different blackout stages are sketchy. The blackout started at 4pm on august 14th, and lasted for an estimated 31 hours in new york city when the power.
The map shows an entire state or province as red, when in some cases only a small portion e. Created by laura cronin, conor mccarter, and stephanie tilden. 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. Eastern daylight time, a highvoltage power line in northern ohio brushed against some overgrown. 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. Northeast blackout of 2003 leadership vits december 2007 jim lloyd deputy chief, safety and mission assurance. Software failure cited in august blackout investigation computerworld. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the. Geckil, economist aeg working paper 20032 introduction on thursday, august 14, 2003, an electrical disruption caused a loss of electrical service to consumers and industry acro ss the northeast. By thinkreliability staff on august 14, 2003, over 50 million people in the u. Software failure cited in august blackout investigation.
Tougher regulatory measures are in place, but were still a long way from a smart power grid. The blackout that exposed the flaws in the grid the new york. This study assessed the health effects of the 2003 northeastern blackout, the largest one in history, on mortality and hospital admissions due to respiratory, cardiovascular, and renal diseases in new york city nyc, and compared the disease patterns and sociodemographic profiles of cases during the blackout with those on control days. New monitoring tools keep your ac running when temperatures soar. For some customers, power was not restored for nearly four days.
This week marked the tenyear anniversary of the northeast blackout, a power outage that occurred along the entire northeast of the united states and parts of canada back on august 14th, 2003. The failure on the evening of august 14th 2003, the united states and canada experienced the largest power 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. A major outage knocked out power across the eastern united states and parts of canada on august 14, 2003. The blackout that exposed the flaws in the grid the new.
Firstenergy says its problems were some of many issues destabilizing power flow in the northeast that day, and that its role in the outage is. 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. Northeast blackout of 2003first energy outage reports. Nerc worked closely with the joint uscanada task force and all affected entities to investigate the causes of the august 14, 2003 blackout. Remembering the 2003 northeast blackout photos wsj. To nobodys surprise, the final report on the blackout released by a. A map of the states and provinces affected by the w. 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. An analysis of the causes and consequences of the northeast blackout of 2003. Northeast blackout of 2003 or north america blackout of 2003. Chinese hackers may have been responsible for the recent power outage in florida, and the widespread blackout that struck the northeastern u.
What will be key challenges for the resilience of the electricity subsector in the future. For more than five years, nerc has sought and failed to get. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and the. According to bert taube, director of business development for versant, a data management software company, energy utilities encounter many of the data management problems that other. Software bug contributed to blackout kevin poulsen, securityfocus 20040211. Health impact in new york city during the northeastern. Cause, software bug in the alarm system in the control room of firstenergy. In some cities, traffic problems were compounded by motorists who simply drove until their cars ran out of gas on the highway. Another pdf file to the final analysis of the 2003 power blackour in the ne united states. The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific american. Fifteen years ago, a software bug resulted in over 50 million people. Final report on the august 14, 2003 blackout in the united.
Analysis of the risk and uncertainty chevalier, samuel c. The relevant root cause information is included below. The precipitating cause of the blackout was a software glitch in the alarm system in a control room of firstenergy corporation, causing operators to be unaware of the need to redistribute the power load after. 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. Et, 21 power plants shut down in just three minutes. 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. College of engineering and mathematical sciences university of vermont, burlington, vt. 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 blackouts proximate cause was a software bug in the alarm system at the control room of firstenergy, an akron, ohio based company, which rendered operators unaware of the need to redistribute load after overloaded transmission lines drooped into foliage. Many others did not get their power back until two days later. This greatly exaggerates the actual area of the blackout.
Kingdon capital management lucked out with the northeast blackout of august 2003. New york news coverage of the northeast blackout of 2003. Moving forward on lessons learned from the blackout of 2003. Northeast blackout of 1965 or north america blackout of 1965. A software bug at firstenergy corporation in ohio caused this power outage. 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. Poor tree management, insufficient communications between electric utilities in the area, lack of proper training and insufficient tools to handle an electricity emergency are all cited as. The task force responsible for investigating the cause of the aug.
One of them was buried in a massive piece of software compiled. 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. There are strict protocols in place which govern the procedures to be followed should a power company encounter problems. The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific. How badly is cyberhacking nibbling away at our infrastructure.
Thinking back over the years, one of the biggest, hottest tech glitches took place on aug. Ten years later, we are still grappling with concerns over the vulnerability of the power grid. The media centre for ontarios independent energy system operator ieso noted that the blackout s causes stemmed from inadequate procedures and operations in the state of ohio, as outlined in final report on the august 14, 2003 blackout in the united states and canada. The massive power outage affected areas in eight northeastern and midwestern states, as well as ontario, canada. College of engineering and mathematical sciences university of vermont, burlington, vt abstractin august of 2003, a series of cascading line trips and generator outages caused over 55 million customers to lose access to electrical power. The northeast blackout of 2003 is the second most widespread power outage in history. We are responsible for the great east coast blackout of 2003. A technician had shut it off to upgrade the software, and then gone to lunch. Our local newspaper is asking readers where they were during the east coast blackout of 20. Most did not get their power back until two days later.
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