Hurricane Michael caused 1.7 million electricity outages in the Southeast United States

[thackney]

Hurricane Michael caused 1.7 million electricity outages in the Southeast United States
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=37332
OCTOBER 22, 2018



Hurricane Michael resulted in outages for up to 1.7 million electricity customers across six states, according to situation reports from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response. On Wednesday, October 10, 2018, the storm made landfall as a Category 4 storm near Mexico Beach in the Florida panhandle. During the following two days, Hurricane Michael traveled through Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia with heavy rainfall and up to 65 mile-per-hour winds.

Outages were highest in Virginia, where peak outages reached 523,000 customers, or about 14% of the state, on October 12. North Carolina also saw significant outages on that day, reaching 492,000 customers, or 10% of the state. As of October 19, power had been restored to 93% of customers who experienced a storm-related outage.

Of the 125,000 customers still without power on October 19, more than 80% were in Florida. Gulf Power, which serves 459,000 customers in northwestern Florida, estimates that some customers may not have power restored until October 24. Duke Energy, which serves Mexico Beach, cannot currently estimate recovery times because much of the infrastructure in the area where the storm made landfall will need to be rebuilt.



Electric load in the City of Tallahassee balancing authority dropped to about 30% of the forecasted peak load following Hurricane Michael’s landfall. Electric load recovered to pre-hurricane levels five days later. During and after the storm, EIA updated the Energy Disruptions page three times, detailing changes in electric load and electricity generation in several of the balancing authorities that Hurricane Michael affected.



One nuclear power plant—Alabama’s Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Generating Station—was operating under reduced output as a precaution ahead of the storm. The plant operated at 30% capacity as Hurricane Michael passed over on October 11, but it increased to 55% capacity and gradually returned to full service by October 19. Several other nuclear power plants in the area, such as V C Summer and H B Robinson in South Carolina, were not operating during the storm because they were in maintenance outages that were planned before the storm’s formation.

[Dexter]

This is clearly Trump's fault.

[Sighlass]

Cousin of mine is down there now working with other crews trying to get power on, some of the pictures he put up on Facebook are quite amazing. Some areas got hit dang hard, but being it ain't New Orleans it didn't get the news coverage.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

from article:
Electric load in the City of Tallahassee balancing authority dropped to about 30% of the forecasted peak load following Hurricane Michael’s landfall.

I never heard of a balancing authority.

Can you enlighten us on what this does? @thackney

Also, I note that the City of Tallahassee has its own power generating entity run by the city.  Presumably, it also maintains distribution of power as well.  I wonder how efficient a government power company is compared to a private firm when it comes to maintaining power and distributions during emergency such as this?

[thackney]

A Balancing Authority is responsible for maintaining the electricity balance within its region. The Balancing Authority does this by controlling the generation and transmission of electricity throughout its own region, and between neighboring Balancing Authorities. Every hour of every day, Balancing Authorities undertake a delicate dance to ensure the generation, transmission and distribution systems are all working reliably to meet California's energy needs.

A Balancing Authority has several ways to maintain the balance of supply and demand, from turning on or off generators, to importing or exporting excess electricity to or from their neighbors.

http://www.tanc.us/chap6_picture.html

- - - - - - - - - - -

U.S. electric system is made up of interconnections and balancing authorities
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=27152

Electricity generated at power plants moves through a complex network of electricity substations, power lines, and distribution transformers before it reaches customers. In the United States, the power system consists of more than 7,300 power plants, nearly 160,000 miles of high-voltage power lines, and millions of low-voltage power lines and distribution transformers, which connect 145 million customers.

Local electricity grids are interconnected to form larger networks for reliability and commercial purposes. At the highest level, the United States power system in the Lower 48 states is made up of three main interconnections, which operate largely independently from each other with limited transfers of power between them.

The Eastern Interconnection encompasses the area east of the Rocky Mountains and a portion of northern Texas. The Eastern Interconnection consists of 36 balancing authorities: 31 in the United States and 5 in Canada.

The Western Interconnection encompasses the area from the Rockies west and consists of 37 balancing authorities: 34 in the United States, 2 in Canada, and 1 in Mexico.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) covers most, but not all, of Texas and consists of a single balancing authority.

The network structure of the interconnections helps maintain the reliability of the power system by providing multiple routes for power to flow and by allowing generators to supply electricity to many load centers. This redundancy helps prevent transmission line or power plant failures from causing interruptions in service.

These interconnections describe the physical system of the grid. The actual operation of the electric system is managed by entities called balancing authorities. Most, but not all, balancing authorities are electric utilities that have taken on the balancing responsibilities for a specific portion of the power system. All of the regional transmission organizations in the United States also function as balancing authorities. ERCOT is unique in that the balancing authority, interconnection, and the regional transmission organization are all the same entity and physical system.

A balancing authority ensures, in real time, that power system demand and supply are finely balanced. This balance is needed to maintain the safe and reliable operation of the power system. If demand and supply fall out of balance, local or even wide-area blackouts can result.

Balancing authorities maintain appropriate operating conditions for the electric system by ensuring that a sufficient supply of electricity is available to serve expected demand, which includes managing transfers of electricity with other balancing authorities. Balancing authorities are responsible for maintaining operating conditions under mandatory reliability standards issued by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation and approved by the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and, in Canada, by Canadian regulators. These operators monitor the grid to identify potential problems before a situation becomes critical.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

A Balancing Authority is responsible for maintaining the electricity balance within its region. The Balancing Authority does this by controlling the generation and transmission of electricity throughout its own region, and between neighboring Balancing Authorities. Every hour of every day, Balancing Authorities undertake a delicate dance to ensure the generation, transmission and distribution systems are all working reliably to meet California's energy needs.

A Balancing Authority has several ways to maintain the balance of supply and demand, from turning on or off generators, to importing or exporting excess electricity to or from their neighbors.

http://www.tanc.us/chap6_picture.html

- - - - - - - - - - -

U.S. electric system is made up of interconnections and balancing authorities
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=27152

Electricity generated at power plants moves through a complex network of electricity substations, power lines, and distribution transformers before it reaches customers. In the United States, the power system consists of more than 7,300 power plants, nearly 160,000 miles of high-voltage power lines, and millions of low-voltage power lines and distribution transformers, which connect 145 million customers.

Local electricity grids are interconnected to form larger networks for reliability and commercial purposes. At the highest level, the United States power system in the Lower 48 states is made up of three main interconnections, which operate largely independently from each other with limited transfers of power between them.

The Eastern Interconnection encompasses the area east of the Rocky Mountains and a portion of northern Texas. The Eastern Interconnection consists of 36 balancing authorities: 31 in the United States and 5 in Canada.

The Western Interconnection encompasses the area from the Rockies west and consists of 37 balancing authorities: 34 in the United States, 2 in Canada, and 1 in Mexico.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) covers most, but not all, of Texas and consists of a single balancing authority.

The network structure of the interconnections helps maintain the reliability of the power system by providing multiple routes for power to flow and by allowing generators to supply electricity to many load centers. This redundancy helps prevent transmission line or power plant failures from causing interruptions in service.

These interconnections describe the physical system of the grid. The actual operation of the electric system is managed by entities called balancing authorities. Most, but not all, balancing authorities are electric utilities that have taken on the balancing responsibilities for a specific portion of the power system. All of the regional transmission organizations in the United States also function as balancing authorities. ERCOT is unique in that the balancing authority, interconnection, and the regional transmission organization are all the same entity and physical system.

A balancing authority ensures, in real time, that power system demand and supply are finely balanced. This balance is needed to maintain the safe and reliable operation of the power system. If demand and supply fall out of balance, local or even wide-area blackouts can result.

Balancing authorities maintain appropriate operating conditions for the electric system by ensuring that a sufficient supply of electricity is available to serve expected demand, which includes managing transfers of electricity with other balancing authorities. Balancing authorities are responsible for maintaining operating conditions under mandatory reliability standards issued by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation and approved by the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and, in Canada, by Canadian regulators. These operators monitor the grid to identify potential problems before a situation becomes critical.

thx, I feel less ignorant

[thackney]

Stability of the gird, frequency control, etc requires these types of actions.  The big guys and the little guys all have to coordinate and/or have clearly defined scopes of control.