Big Power Outage

[KG4CGC]

Turns out the whole thing was caused by a single utility worker in Arizona who managed to shut down the main east-west transmission line while doing some maintenance work.

If it had happened on another day, it might not have been as big an issue but yesterday was hot and humid so everyone had their A/C running, meaning the load was too great for the only other high voltage transmission line into San Diego and Imperial Counties. Some breakers blew, resulting in a low voltage condition that cause several power generation stations (including the San Onofre nuke plant) to go into protection mode and go offline. One thing led to another and boom!—the power went down to more than four million people. It finally came on here on the Islets of Langerhans around 1:45 A.M., almost exactly ten hours after things went dark.

It was actually kind of a cool thing, though—because it was too warm to stay indoors without A/C or at least a fan running, all the neighbors were out on the street and there was a party atmosphere. I dragged out my little telescope and we took advantage of the unusually dark night to look at the moon and a couple of planets. About the only casualty here was a container of vanilla ice cream.

I'll bet that AZ utility worker got his pee-pee whacked this morning, though.

[emphaseassis mine]
Week off with pay.
You know what, Carl? I still think he was a terrurisk. We need to question him with a garden hose and an enema nozzle.

[NQ6U]

[emphaseassis mine]
Week off with pay.
You know what, Carl? I still think he was a terrurisk. We need to question him with a garden hose and an enema nozzle.

They're not announcing the guy's name. I think I know why.

[W3WN]

Where's MacGyver when you need him?

Avoiding & hiding from Patty & Selma Bouvier.

Patty, like Selma has also had an honest sexual fixation on MacGyver for many years, although this aspect of her personality was played out in later years.

[KG4CGC]

They're not announcing the guy's name. I think I know why.

Oh. I guess they caught wind of the nib of that nozzle.

[KC2UGV]

About the only casualty here was a container of vanilla ice cream.

It was eaten, right? If not: You will be cursed to the depths of hell for eternity!

[w3bny]

Wonder if there was....

1. An SOP in effect.
2. Did he read and understand the SOP
3. was he qualified to perform the SOP
4. Was the fooking SOP verified for technical correctness and signed by the plant manager

My guess....NO!!

[KK4AMI]

Being humble, I'll admit I make plenty of mistakes. But, I guess the number of people you make that mistake in front of does contribute to multiplying the "you idiot" factor. I'd say my best was about 10 people. That Utility Worker in my opinion has reached the unobtainable!

[NQ6U]

That Utility Worker in my opinion has reached the unobtainable!

He got over four million people pissed off at him—a significant accomplishment.

[W1GUH]

Turns out the whole thing was caused by a single utility worker in Arizona who managed to shut down the main east-west transmission line while doing some maintenance work.

If it had happened on another day, it might not have been as big an issue but yesterday was hot and humid so everyone had their A/C running, meaning the load was too great for the only other high voltage transmission line into San Diego and Imperial Counties. Some breakers blew, resulting in a low voltage condition that cause several power generation stations (including the San Onofre nuke plant) to go into protection mode and go offline. One thing led to another and boom!—the power went down to more than four million people. It finally came on here on the Islets of Langerhans around 1:45 A.M., almost exactly ten hours after things went dark.

It was actually kind of a cool thing, though—because it was too warm to stay indoors without A/C or at least a fan running, all the neighbors were out on the street and there was a party atmosphere. I dragged out my little telescope and we took advantage of the unusually dark night to look at the moon and a couple of planets. About the only casualty here was a container of vanilla ice cream.

I'll bet that AZ utility worker got his pee-pee whacked this morning, though.

Turns out the whole thing was caused by a single utility worker in Arizona who managed to shut down the main east-west transmission line while doing some maintenance work.

Talk about terrible infrastructure! It's beyond comprehension that the power grid would be so fragile. IMHO, this is the perfect example of the evil of de-regulation. The power company big shots obviously wanted to protect their bonuses by cutting development money to the bone, and what we get is a very sub-standard power grid. Want to guess the probability that those big shots will be penalized for their greed? I say that probability is ZERO. In fact, they'll get rewarded for saving so much money by building a grid that's worse than that of a third-world nation.

[W1GUH]

Wonder if there was....

1. An SOP in effect.
2. Did he read and understand the SOP
3. was he qualified to perform the SOP
4. Was the fooking SOP verified for technical correctness and signed by the plant manager

My guess....NO!!

My guess is, "He's human, and humans make mistakes." Something that whoever designed the power grid failed to take into account.