than 140,000 residents lost power for several days (wiki)
Eastern US & Canada
“Halloween” storms and thunderstorms swept the eastern U.S and Canada areas.Power outages throughout November 1st, 2019 leaving many in the dark
More than 2,000,000 people left without power for several days, including people stranded by the flooding (wiki)
Island of Tenerife, Spain
Power was cut on September 29, 2019 for the entire island of TenerifeBreakdown occurred at a major electrical substation
More than 1 million people affected, many trapped in buildings and elevators (wiki)
Bahamas, Eastern Seaboard of US, and Canada
Hurricane Dorian damaged transmission systems on September 1st, 2019.Power outages spread out and last for extended period
More than 200,000 outages and many people left in the dark (wiki)
England & Wales
Major power blackout due to lighting strike.
More than a million people affected and major travel disrupted (wiki)
Kiev, Ukraine
Cyber‐attack on December 17, 2015Lasted over an hour – power cut over whole city
225,000 with no powerCity brought to a halt
Venezuela
Hydroelectric Plant Failure (03/07/2019 – 03/14/2019)Possible act of sabotage
32 Million with no power42 deaths attributed to power outage
Dallas, TX
Tornado & Storms (10/21/2019)
Disaster declaration in 16 countiesMore than 140,000 with no power for several days
Denver, CO
Power rerouting for maintenance caused a system trip (7/1/2010)
7 substations brought down100,000 with no power for 15 minutes and 20,000 without power for over an hour
Chicago, IL
Severe storms (6/22/2010)
550,000 customers lost power for approximately 4 days
Kentucky
Winter storm (12/25/2009)
607,000 customers went without power
Siberia
Long‐term maintenance negligence (8‐17‐09)
75 workers killed, 2‐day blackout, oil spill
Florida
Significant Equipment Failure (2‐26‐08)
4,400,000 are left without power
New England
Lightning storms cause debris to damage power transmission lines (1‐14‐08)
20,000 people report power loss over the span of a week‐long storm
San Francisco, CA
Data Center Backup Power Generators failed (7‐24‐07)
40,000 customers directly affected. Internet users worldwide couldn’t access internet sites
Los Angeles, CA
Massive Power Outage – Utility Worker wiring error (9‐12‐05)
Traffic and public transportation problemsFear of a terrorist attack
Indonesia
Transmission line failure between Java and Bali (8‐18‐05)
100 million without power
Gulf Coast (Florida/New Orleans)
2004/05 Hurricanes: Iban, Charley, Francés, Katrina, etc.
Millions of customers without power, water, food and shelter, government records lost due to flooding
China
20‐million‐kilowatt power shortage – Equivalent to the typical demand in the entire state of New York (Summer 2005)
Multiple sporadic brownoutsGovernment shutdown least energy‐efficient consumers
Greece
Temperatures near 104°FMismanagement of electric grid (7‐12‐04)
Over half of the country left without power
O’Hare Airport, Chicago, IL
Electrical explosion (7‐12‐04)
Lost power to two terminalsFlight delays over the course of a day
Logan Airport, Boston, MA
Electrical substation malfunction (7‐5‐04)
Flight delays and security screening shutdown for 4 hours
Italy
Power line failuresBad Weather (9‐29‐03)
Nationwide power outage 57 million people affected
London
National grid failure (8‐29‐03)
Over 250,000 commuters stranded
Northeast, Midwest and Canada
Human decisions by various organizations, corporate & industry policy deficiencies, inadequate management (8‐14‐03)
50 Million People effected due to the 61,800 MW of capacity not being available
Brazil
Lightning strike (3‐11‐99)
75 million without power
Quebec, CA
EMP from solar flare
12‐hour blackout in CanadaWorldwide radio and satellite systems disruptions
In fact, the energy industry is just coming of age to utilize the latest operation technology. Some organizations lack even accurate and up‐to‐date information to provide first responders of grid outages with the intelligence and support necessary to make informed decisions during critical events. Keeping personnel motivated, trained, and ready to respond to emergencies is a challenge, made even greater without an appropriate records retrieval program in place.
Augmenting security for utilities is seeing some progress. The Federal Government is taking steps to enhance physical and cyber security for utilities. The Critical Infrastructure Protection Cyber Security Standards, mandated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), are designed to reduce the risk to the reliability of the utility electric system and enhance security by protecting Critical Cyber Assets (CCA). The Cyber Security Standards requires utilities to implement and document a program to identify, classify and protect information associated with CCA’s. Some facilities, control centers, and substations must undergo security assessment and augmentation when identified as Critical Assets.
Access to these Critical Assets, whether in person or through cyber and electronic means, has to be authorized and will be controlled, monitored (with an immediate response to all unauthorized access attempts), and logged. Physical access will likely be controlled by the use of card reader systems. To be authorized for access, affected employees, contractors, and vendors are required to have an appropriate level of personnel risk assessment consisting of identity verification, seven‐year criminal record search, and terrorist watch list search. In addition,
