Case studycase study northeast blackout 2003northeast blackout 2003 active failure software bug latent failures assessinggyg yy and identifying vulnerability of system with respect to voltage criteria problem identification lack of recognition of deterioration of system performance qualityperformance quality. Information primarily taken from nercs technical analysis of the system collapse. I saw the news story on the new england blackout on tv. About icf consulting icf consulting is a leading management, technology, and policy consulting firm. The company points out, quite rightly but also narrowly, that it is too soon to tell whether its tripped power plant and lines were the cause or effects of the northeast blackout. Great northeast power blackout of 2003 satellite imagery. The software should have given one system precedent. Automatic load shedding should be employed conclusion. A microgrid can connect and disconnect from the grid to enable it to operate in both gridconnected or island mode.
Us northeast blackout race condition in general electrics unixbased xa21 energy management system bug stalls firstenergys control room alarm system operators do not receive alerts any more unprocessed events queued up and the primary server failed within 30 minutes applications automatically transferred to the backup server, which. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and ontario, canada on thursday, august 14, 2003, just before 4. Et, 21 power plants shut down in just three minutes. Blackout details and timeline the details of the 2003 blackout will now be summarized, but a more thorough investigation of the matter can be found in 1. With the software not functioning properly at that point, data that should have been deleted were instead retained, slowing performance, he said. Canada power system outage task force recommendations. After a system software failure during the early afternoon, overloaded 345kilovolt lines suddenly dipped into trees in three places in northeast ohio part of a fourhour chain of events that became the northeast blackout, secondlargest in world history.
The northeast blackout of 1965 journal article osti. Overheated as well as overloaded, the equipment fails. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states, and the canadian province of ontario on august 1428, 2003, beginning just after 4. A collection of wellknown software failures software systems are pervasive in all aspects of society. Consequences of a power surge or blackout can be really sad for your data. A narration of the events that lead to the great northeast blackout on august 14th, 2003. The result is the domino effect of cascading failures. For some customers, power was not restored for nearly four days. Catastrophic failure and engineering disasters episode 11 engineering is the application of mathematics, science, economics, and social and practical knowledge to. How to prep for a blackout from a to z the survivalist blog. The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific.
Turns out after all the various speculation on reasons, the big northeast blackout from last summer was the result of a software bug that was only just discovered and not as many had speculated. Clear definition of typical, alert and crisis mode as well as obligations and job roles of the coordinators and operators should be established. History records that mackinnons reference to the northeast blackout of 2003 understated what happened. Most did not get their power back until two days later. In the industrialized economies of north america and europe, we more often lose power due to a subtle and difficult challenge. Canadian task force investigating the blackout said in november that firstenergy employees failed to take steps that could have isolated. The discovered causes of the northeast blackout were condensed into four groups summarized from northeast blackout report, pp. Only one of these outages, july 2012 in india, was due to more electricity demand than could be supplied by existing resources. I read the report from the federal power commission on the blackout. Northeast blackout of 2003 academic dictionaries and. California independent system operator tmw 41504 9 the initiating events trees, lightning, birds, equipment failure i. A major outage knocked out power across the eastern united states and parts of canada on august 14, 2003. The report blamed the thenunexplained computer failure for retarding firstenergys ability to respond to events that led to the outage, when quick action might have limited the blackouts spread.
When overloaded transmission lines hit untrimmed trees, the alarm did not sound to warn maintenance workers. The initial reporting of the cause of this bug was incorrect. Much larger than the northeast blackout of 1965, in america alone, this blackout affected 45 million people in 8 states. Software failure cited in august blackout investigation the task force responsible for investigating the cause of the aug. While major power outages did happen before and after this unique event, none of them came even close to the great northeast. Chinese hackers may have been responsible for the recent power outage in florida, and the widespread blackout that struck the northeastern u. To nobodys surprise, the final report on the blackout released by a u. Last saturdays power outage in new york city affected fewer than 100,000 people in a city of 8. I will start with a study of economic cost of software bugs. Many others did not get their power back until two days later.
It specified that relay q29bd had tripped, but did not find a reason for the tripping, other than a possible. For more public eye satellite imagery, see the picture of the week gallery of satellite and other imagery of places in the news. By thinkreliability staff on august 14, 2003, over 50 million people in the u. From electronic voting to online shopping, a significant part of our daily life is mediated by software. In this page, i collect a list of wellknown software failures. As will be shown, the 2003 northeast blackout was heavily based in these concepts. A booster went off course during launch, resulting in the destruction of nasa mariner 1. The outage affected an area with an estimated 50 million people and 61,800 megawatts mw of electric load in the states of ohio, michigan, pennsylvania, new york, vermont, massachusetts, connecticut, new jersey and the canadian province of ontario. A software bug at firstenergy corporation in ohio caused this power outage. The safety relay was set to trip if other protective equipment deeper within the ontario hydro system failed to operate properly. Fifty million people were affected, including residents of new york, cleveland and detroit, as well as toronto and ottawa, canada. Northeast blackout caused by a software bug techdirt. A softwarebased system, the controller can manage energy supply in many different ways. And like the blackouts in california in 2001, it often.
The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and ontario, canada on thursday, august 14, 2003, just. Initially, canadian defense minister john mccallum blamed an outage at a nuclear power plant in pennsylvania, which the states emergency management agency denied. But over a dozen of task forces 46 recommendations. New york city power outage an early warning light from. On august 14 th, 2003, a blackout affected northeast america and canada in which millions of people were affected. Solving the 1965 northeast blackout a stepbystep chronology. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and the canadian province of ontario on thursday, august 14, 2003, just after 4. Detroit, new york, new jersey, cleveland, toronto that might not be true, but on august 14th at 4. The cause of the failure was the setting of a protective relay on one of the transmission lines from the sir adam beck hydroelectric power station no. An advanced controller can track realtime changes in the power prices on the central grid. Software bug contributed to blackout kevin poulsen, securityfocus 20040211. The cascading event, which started shortly after 4. Power system operators rely heavily on audible and onscreen alarms, plus alarm logs, to reveal any significant changes in their systems conditions, the report noted. Java software solutions edition 9 by john lewis, william.
A previouslyunknown software flaw in a widelydeployed general electric energy management system contributed to the devastating scope of the august 14th northeastern u. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and the canadian province of ontario on thursday. The failures occurred when multiple systems trying to access the same information at once got the equivalent of busy signals, he said. We have a power cooperative that seems to be better able to respond, and my conclusion from your article, is that living in a big city and relying on a complex and aging. This was the result of the failure of a transcriber to notice an overbar in a written specification for the guidance program, resulting in the coding of an incorrect formula in its fortran software. Edt most places restored power by midnight, as early as 6 p. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and the canadian province of ontario on thursday, august 14, 2003, just after 4. In 2003, a blackout caused by software failure lasted 31 hours and affected around 50 million people in the uscanada 58. Over 30 million people and 80,000 square miles 207,000 km 2 were left. Pataki reluctantly recalled one of the two major blackouts of the last 40 years in the northeast the 1965 power failure, which left. Final report on the august 14, 2003 blackout in the united. Software failure cited in august blackout investigation. New york subways resumed limited services around 8 p. New software tools streamline vegetation management.
New york news coverage of the northeast blackout of 2003. The northeast blackout of 1965 was a significant disruption in the supply of electricity on tuesday, november 9, 1965, affecting parts of ontario in canada and connecticut, massachusetts, new hampshire, new jersey, new york, rhode island, pennsylvania, and vermont in the united states. Power surges, blackouts and brownouts caused many troubles to computer users. Final report on implementation of task force recommendations issued oct. Northeast united states and canada august 1415, 2003 it took months before the real cause of the northeast blackout of 2003 was finally determined. Canadian task force monday puts most of blame for the outage on ohiobased firstenergy corp. The consequences of a power surge or blackout can be severe for your information. Every new failure forces the power grid to place heavier loads on the remaining functional substations and power lines. Ten years ago today, large portions of the midwest and northeast united states and into canada went dark.