A Decade After the NE Blackout, Reliability Up But Human Issues Persist

"At 3:57 p.m. on Aug. 14, 2003, a fog of ignorance and confusion enveloped a critical crossroads of the eastern U.S. power grid."

"Don Hunter, reliability coordinator at a Midwest grid control center in Indiana, buzzed operators at FirstEnergy in Akron, Ohio, the power company running generating plants and transmission in eastern Ohio.

Grid and power plant operators in an around Ohio were seeing increasing instability in the power network, and the FirstEnergy operators had been fielding anxious calls from Hunter and others for an hour. 'I think we've got something seriously sick,' one caller told the FirstEnergy control room."

Peter Behr reports for EnergyWire in the first of two stories August 12, 2013.

SEE ALSO:

Part Two: "High-Speed Monitors Keep Watch Over Today's 'Much More Complicated' Grid" (EnergyWire)

"10 Years After The Blackout, How Has The Power Grid Changed?" (NPR)

"New Tools for Keeping the Lights On" (New York Times)

"Where Were You During the Blackout of 2003?" (AP)