Trees and the Northeast Blackout

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Trees and the Northeast Blackout

• Investigation by the Joint US/Canadian Task Force

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Much has happened since the Northeast Blackout in
2003
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Overview

• What happened August 14th 2003
• How did the affected governments react
• What did we do in the subsequent Joint
  US/Canadian Task Force investigation
• What did we look at
• What did we discover
• What did we recommend
• Conclusion

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August 14th 2003

• Largest North American Blackout
• 1 in 3 Canadians
• 1 in 7 Americans
• Economic loss 6 billion
• 8 fatalities
• Initial Causes determined to be
• Inadequate situational awareness by the Utility
• Inadequate diagnostic support by reliability
  coordinators serving the Midwest
• Inadequate tree-trimming

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August 14th 2003

• It was not the first time trees and vegetation
  caused this type of blackout
• European Blackout
• Several others in the 90s
• Currently the single greatest threat to electric
  service reliability
• The Northeast Blackout came at a time when
  critical infrastructure concerns became an issue
  of national security

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How did the affected governments react?

• Within days, the President of the United States
  and Prime Minister of Canada established the
  U.S.- Canada Power System Outage Task Force and
  gave it a two-part mandate
• (1) to identify the causes of the power outage,
  and
• (2) to make recommendations to reduce the
  possibility and scope of future outages

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Task Force
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Our Charge

• INVESTIGATE INITIAL EVENTS Assist in the field
  investigation and prepare a written Initial
  Report regarding the August 14th
  vegetation-related faults.
• PROGRAMS REVIEWS Collect and analyze information
  and data regarding transmission right-of-way
  vegetation management practices of three electric
  utility companies in order to assess the
  strengths and weaknesses of each companys
  vegetation management program. The utilities
  included American Electric Power (AEP),
  FirstEnergy (FE), and Cinergy.
• DEVELOP BEST PRACTICES Identify generic best
  practices for transmission-level vegetation
  management to enhance system performance and
  transmission reliability.
• DEVELOP APPROPRIATE RECOMENDATIONS

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Investigate Initial Events

• Specific findings and supplemental data is
  included in the Interim Report, and the Final
  Report
• Findings can be summarized as follows
• Overgrown trees, as opposed to excessive
  conductor sag, were the cause of each of these
  faults. Further, we concluded that had all the
  trees, which contributed to the August 14th
  outage, been adequately pruned or removed prior
  to the event, the blackout would likely have not
  occurred

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Stuart Atlanta (345kV)
Two ailanthus trees showed evidence of
significant fault current damage and were
de-barked.
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Star South Canton (345kV)
Obvious significant fault damage to clustered
trees. Charred limbs, and de-barked by fault
current.
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Harding Chamberlin (345kV)
Burn marks were observed at 35 8 up tree.
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Hanna Juniper (345kV)
Fault was witnessed by tree crew working a few
spans away
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Columbus Bedford (345kV)
120840.0 Line trips and locks
out. 182300.0 Line returned to service.
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Columbus Bedford (345kV)
Immediate hazards were mitigated on August
14th This is the same location in October 2003
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Programs Reviews

• Findings specific to each utility are contained
  in the Final Report.
• Findings can be summarized as follows
• The three utilities studied in this report
  generally conduct their UVM operations within the
  range of current average industry standards.
  Given that the line to ground faults that
  precipitated the blackout have been determined to
  be a result of inadequate vegetation management
  practices, we believe and strongly recommend that
  the industry average or standard needs to be
  substantially improved.

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Develop Best Practices

• Detailed Transmission UVM Best Practices are
  included in the Final Report
• Developed by a panel of UVM experts from both the
  United States and Canada
• These Best Practices can and are being used as an
  indicator of competence at many utility
  companies

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The BMPs

• Understand the Workload
• Appropriate Funding
• Appropriate Scheduling
• Wire-Zone Border Zone
• Consideration of Sag and Sway
• Re-Claiming ROWs
• Appropriate Inspections
• Organizational Structure
• Management Support
• Qualified Employees

• RD
• Clearly Defined, Communicated and Measured
  Objectives and Milestones
• Quality Assurance Procedures
• External Education
• Internal Education
• Work Management Systems
• Pruning and clearances

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Additional Report Information

• In addition to detailing the specific findings
  about the August 14th Blackout, this report
  presents an overview of the UVM industry to
  provide a technical and industry context for
  understanding the findings.
• Information is provided about UVM organizations,
  work issues, legal and regulatory requirements
  and restraints, professional standards, and the
  need for improvement in electric industry
  practices and utility oversight.
• Now for some of our recommendations

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Oversight And Enforcement Of UVM Activities

• Final Report Finding Current oversight of UVM
  activities by appropriate agencies or
  organizations is inadequate. While there is no
  shortage of concern regarding preventing tree and
  power line conflicts in the wake of blackouts, we
  believe that there needs to be a more consistent,
  focused, and public interest-based approach to
  overseeing the efforts of utility companies in
  this critical activity.

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Our Abbreviated Recommendations For Enforcement
And Oversight Of UVM Programs

• Develop clear and consistent UVM program
  expectations and standards regarding utility
  company performance.
• Develop incentives/penalties for compliance.
• Enforcement and oversight should be routine.
• Oversight organizations need to publicly and
  politically support UVM activities where
  appropriate.

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Our Abbreviated Recommendations For Utility
Companies And The Industry

• Adopt Best Practices
• Provide the right to perform the work
• Eliminate unnecessary obstacles
• Require proper planting of vegetation near power
  lines

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Well thats about it for my overview of the
Blackout

• While not the first time this type of blackout
  has occurred, this event has resulted in many
  changes to our industry. Your next speakers will
  talk about some of the specifics.
• Any questions?