in 5 – Power outage TEXTMSWD
Three electricity transmission lines in Ohio failed Aug. 14, sending the power system linking northeastern states and Canada into automatic power shutdown.
The devastating outage has shaken up people’s everyday functioning, airlines, credit card use, and even trust in the reliability of the nation’s
electrical services.
Questions have arisen rearding how this happened, and if it is something that could occur again. Could it happen in the South? In
Mississippi?
According to professor of electrical and computer engineering Dr. Mike Mazzola, while these are relevant question, there is no need to panic.
“It could happen, but it is much less likely. The South is not straining as much as the North to supply all the electricity needed regionally. This is because many parts of the Southeast haven’t grown as much,” Mazzola said.
“The Northeast on the other hand, has grown substantiall,”he continued. “When you have a system at its capacity with a sudden need for electricity, you have reliability problems.” .
Ed Hattaway, manager of the Starkville Electric Company, agreed that a blackout in the South was unlikely: “I don’t perceive there would be any case like that unless there was a major storm in the valley. We feel very confident with our system and TVA’s [Tennessee Valley Authority] system.”
Mazzola added that not only is the South independent of the import of electricity, it is even a net export of electricity.
However, the electrical power systems in the North are similar to those in the South. Deregulation in the United States gave people the right to buy power from utilities other than local ones. This led to a”vast market of buying and selling electricity at any time, said Mazzola.
Deals are generally done over transmission lines, meaning electricity bought from Ohio for New York gets there over the transmission lines. This is how the electricity system in the United States became what is called a “national grid.” Since electricity is no longer state operated, a problem inone state can quickly become a problem in many states.
The blackout Aug. 14 has been attributed to three breaks in the
circuits at the FirstEnergy utility company in Ohio. When a disturbance occurs in a major circuit, such as FirstEnergy in the North or Southern Company in the South, it causes the trickle-down effect.
If there is a shortage in a main transmission system, then the local utilities cannot receive their needed
electricity, and all of their customers experience power shortage.
The trickle-down effect is what happened in the eight states and the
province of Ontario, Canada. It reaped havoc on 50 million people. The sudden absence of power caused problems in transportation, public health, and communications. Food spoiled, and without electricity many businesses could
not operate.
“We lost capabilities to run credit cards at the restaurant,” said
Brooke McGibboney, Assistant Manager at Copeland’s in Birmingham, AL. “While the effects the outage had on the North were tremendous, the South did not go without receiving part of that blow.”
While the South is currently producing an abundance of electricity, Southerners should still take precautions. It is good to have a supply of flashlights, batteries, and drinking water in case of any emergency.
Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. How long would you be prepared to go
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