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American Morning
What Caused The Blackout?
Aired August 15, 2003 - 10:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look right now at this blackout, technically, both a look at what's happened and what remains to be done. And for that we turn to now Clark Gellings, the vice president of power delivery and utilization at the Electric Power Research Institute, and he joins us from Mountainview, California.
Good morning. Thanks for coming in and sharing with us this morning your expertise on this, because a lot of people have questions about, No. 1, why this happened? And how long it will take for this whole situation to be resolved.
First off, let's start with what do you know of why this may have happened? And what do you make of the different accusation that have been flying between the U.S. and Canada?
CLARK GELLINGS, ELEC. POWER RESEARCH INST.: Well, the accusations are certainly interesting.
Good morning.
Exactly why it happened, we're not yet sure. I do know from looking at our monitors on the grid back East that it was a major disruption that happened very quickly. The system neared collapse and then did exactly what it's supposed to do, and that is began to cut itself free so as to protect itself.
HARRIS: You say it did what it was supposed to do. However, we've been hearing from everyone else, for instance, Governor George Pataki, saying this was not supposed to happen again after what happened back in 1977.
GELLINGS: The causes are a bit different between this and 1977. Those, I believe we've taken remedial action against. In this case, though, you've got this major machine, a bit under stressed because of the heat and humidity because back Northeast. Probably had one or more major components fail. There isn't infinite redundancy built into the system. It's essentially a rather dumb mechanical system. It's not the kind of smart systems we're used to seeing in the digital world.
HARRIS: So, would you agree, then, with comments we've heard from experts, one of them being a former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, who said the grid itself is a Third World machinery, basically Third World technology, and here in the world's No. 1 superpower?
GELLINGS: It certainly is 1950s technology. It's been installed over the last 30 to 40 years and it really could use some improvement. Most industries in the Western world have been transformed by communications and micro processors. Most all of them, except for the electric power industry.
HARRIS: Let me ask you something, because it seems like the picture we're getting about the way the grid works, and the number of different station that are all plugged into it, it seems as if it's like a river with a lot of different tributaries. If that is the case, then, is it possible that we may never find out the real source of if this, if the power that does get into the system suddenly becomes anonymous?
GELLINGS: There are a number of sensors on the system, not all connected in real time. That's something hopefully for the future. But I think as we begin to look at the data from those sensors that we do have, we'll begin to understand exactly where it originated.
HARRIS: If you had to guess, based upon what you've been seeing and hearing so far? Where do you think it originated? And do you think it was just one source?
GELLINGS: Well, it probably was one source. The I really can't speculate. I can say the two most probable are either relay failure or lightning up in Canada, or near the Canadian border at a major location --.
HARRIS: I apologize for that, folks. That was not a power related situation. That's a satellite issue there. Sorry about that. We apologize to the audience. And we also apologize to Clark Gellings for the interruption there in the satellite transmission.
Sorry to have that happen now. I really wanted to hear his answer.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 15, 2003 - 10:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look right now at this blackout, technically, both a look at what's happened and what remains to be done. And for that we turn to now Clark Gellings, the vice president of power delivery and utilization at the Electric Power Research Institute, and he joins us from Mountainview, California.
Good morning. Thanks for coming in and sharing with us this morning your expertise on this, because a lot of people have questions about, No. 1, why this happened? And how long it will take for this whole situation to be resolved.
First off, let's start with what do you know of why this may have happened? And what do you make of the different accusation that have been flying between the U.S. and Canada?
CLARK GELLINGS, ELEC. POWER RESEARCH INST.: Well, the accusations are certainly interesting.
Good morning.
Exactly why it happened, we're not yet sure. I do know from looking at our monitors on the grid back East that it was a major disruption that happened very quickly. The system neared collapse and then did exactly what it's supposed to do, and that is began to cut itself free so as to protect itself.
HARRIS: You say it did what it was supposed to do. However, we've been hearing from everyone else, for instance, Governor George Pataki, saying this was not supposed to happen again after what happened back in 1977.
GELLINGS: The causes are a bit different between this and 1977. Those, I believe we've taken remedial action against. In this case, though, you've got this major machine, a bit under stressed because of the heat and humidity because back Northeast. Probably had one or more major components fail. There isn't infinite redundancy built into the system. It's essentially a rather dumb mechanical system. It's not the kind of smart systems we're used to seeing in the digital world.
HARRIS: So, would you agree, then, with comments we've heard from experts, one of them being a former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, who said the grid itself is a Third World machinery, basically Third World technology, and here in the world's No. 1 superpower?
GELLINGS: It certainly is 1950s technology. It's been installed over the last 30 to 40 years and it really could use some improvement. Most industries in the Western world have been transformed by communications and micro processors. Most all of them, except for the electric power industry.
HARRIS: Let me ask you something, because it seems like the picture we're getting about the way the grid works, and the number of different station that are all plugged into it, it seems as if it's like a river with a lot of different tributaries. If that is the case, then, is it possible that we may never find out the real source of if this, if the power that does get into the system suddenly becomes anonymous?
GELLINGS: There are a number of sensors on the system, not all connected in real time. That's something hopefully for the future. But I think as we begin to look at the data from those sensors that we do have, we'll begin to understand exactly where it originated.
HARRIS: If you had to guess, based upon what you've been seeing and hearing so far? Where do you think it originated? And do you think it was just one source?
GELLINGS: Well, it probably was one source. The I really can't speculate. I can say the two most probable are either relay failure or lightning up in Canada, or near the Canadian border at a major location --.
HARRIS: I apologize for that, folks. That was not a power related situation. That's a satellite issue there. Sorry about that. We apologize to the audience. And we also apologize to Clark Gellings for the interruption there in the satellite transmission.
Sorry to have that happen now. I really wanted to hear his answer.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
