Northern Blackout 2003

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The northern blackout of 2003 should be analyzed, in order to gain awareness of the failures leading to the disaster, to prevent similar disasters from occurring in the future. Learning about the failures will help to engineer a more successful model of the system. Many improvements can be made in the areas of communication, safety training and system improvements. Implementing these changes are essential as they are crucial to maintaining a stable economy, security and safety (Allen, Stuart and Wiedman, 2014). Training the staff at energy facilities, in preparation for an emergency, is a crucial step in prevention of another disaster. The staff at First Energy, the facility that caused the blackout, had inadequate training, according to the U.S.-Canada Power System Outage Task Force (2004). It is important that staff are trained, since they have to handle the generation of electricity. The electricity produced by generators travel at very fast speeds and need to be consumed immediately (Torstar Syndication Services, 2003). This is needs to be looked after by skilled workers, who can balance the amount of electricity generated and demanded, so that scheduled voltages are maintained (Torstar Syndication Services, 2003). They also need to ensure thermal limits in the power lines are maintained (U.S.-Canada Power System Outage Task Force, 2004). …show more content…

At the time of the blackout, NERC standards and processes were not clear enough, and they did not hold the authority to enforce their standards (U.S.-Canada Power System Outage Task Force, 2004). As a result, First Energy was in direct violation of seven guidelines (U.S.-Canada

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