Report: Severe weather threatens power grid
By Neela Banerjee, Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON — A decade after a vast power outage shut down the Northeast, the electricity grid remains “highly vulnerable” to blackouts because of extreme weather fueled by climate change, a report by the White House and the Energy Department concludes.
Sagging and downed power lines in Tahoe. Photo/LTN file
The Aug. 14, 2003, blackout occurred when an alarm failed in an Ohio utility control room, leading to a cascade of blackouts that affected 50 million people from Michigan to Massachusetts. More recent power outages have been caused by severe weather, such as storms in the East and wildfires in the West.
Between 2003 and 2012, 679 blackouts occurred because of weather events, each affecting at least 50,000 customers. Over the same period, weather-related outages cost the economy between $18 billion and $33 billion annually, depending on the number and severity of events.
