For someone like me whose knowledge of electricity is limited to Ben Franklin with his kite, or recognizing when the light bulb has burned out, it would be helpful to have a Cliff's Notes overview of the power grid, if possible.
Aren't there several interconnected power grids in the country, and when one goes down, can't the downed grid usually draw electricity from the ones that are working?
Found this while searching in my very old mail. How is this blast from the past -- posted just prior to 911 and on a power outage topic to boot:
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b731e125c8f.htm
NEW YORK: 7000 POWER OUTAGES, CITY WORKERS ORDERED TO GO HOME EARLY
And today in Michigan, blackouts left 66,000 people in the dark.
Hey grizzfan. I am still searching to see if I can dig up that link that _Jim provided many months ago on the grids.
IIRC, there are three seperate grids in the USA
_Jim said: Ahhh ... which NY Blackout - there has been, really, only one "NY Blackout" and that was in 1977. (1965 was regional, the NE area and 2003 was an even bigger regional event!).
New York has, however, been 'blacked out' to due to much larger, encompassing blackouts in 1965 and of course in 2003 ...
Last year's (2003 blackout) was primarily of a green regional system coordinator (MISO) coupled with a control room "in the blind" (First Energy) and a short, late season warm spell that stressed the system just enough such that certain lines sagged into trees (some that were on the shortlist with tree-trimming crews in the area to do just that!) ...
As always, cites references if needed but far and away the biggest, most comprehensive resource on last year's blackout (complete with news stories as well as technical papers and analysis) can he found here:
www.pserc.wisc.edu/Resources.htm - Resources for Understanding the Blackout of 2003 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6,176 | View Replies