About Cascading Power Blackouts
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The nation’s most massive blackout to date occurred on August 14, 2003, and it is clear that cascading contributed to the wide extent of the blackout. Although there were signs of trouble an hour or more before Cleveland lost power at about 4:09 P.M., it was after Cleveland went dark that things happened fast. At 4:10, over one hundred power plants in five Northern states started going down in rapid fire order. By 4:25, just fifteen minutes later, 50 million people in much of the Northeastern U.S. and in Canada were without power. Cascading occurs when a power plant, a transmission line, switching station, or other grid component shuts down, putting additional strain on other components, causing them to go down as well. |
For example, if a transmission line goes down and the energy is routed through another transmission line, the additional load can cause that line to overheat and shut down as well. That can cause still other grid components to go down, and so on. Before long, a lot of people over a large area can be in the dark. This has happened before, in 1976 for example, when four parallel transmission lines were knocked out by four lightning strikes, starting a cascade that put much of the Northeast in the dark. It could happen here in California! This is one more reason why we need 2020GreenEnergy. |
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2020GreenEnergy
will end the risk of cascading blackouts in California,
once and for all!
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CEInet, 2020GreenEnergy’s 21st-century California Power Grid, will prevent cascading blackouts in California. Widespread blackouts won’t occur unless there is widespread disaster. Even then, CEInet can be up and running again faster than any of today’s systems. CEInet will isolate transmission lines. Instead of connecting them directly to one another, CEInet will interconnect them via energy storage units, which will effectively stop cascades from traveling through the system. |
When a CEInet transmission line fails, the storage unit at its destination will use reserve energy to supply other lines, so that they won’t be affected by the failure. The unit can replenish its energy reserves via other transmission links without waiting for the failed line to be restored. Let’s make 2020GreenEnergy a reality and keep the lights on in California! |