[off-topic] Re: US Power Outages

At 22:24 8/11/96, Z.B. wrote:
>>From what I read, this wasn't a "small localized disturbance".
>Apparently, a fire underneath one of the main towers on the CA-OR border
>was the cause of the problem.  Now that may not sound like too much, but
>the lines were carrying at least 3000Mw of electricity, enough "to power
>3-1/2 Seattles for a day" (quote from local newspaper).  My guess is that
>when there is a problem involving that much power with no place to go,
>the safety systems shut everything down to prevent damage.

It was a disturbance at a single power line. By any standard, this should
not lead to a blackout from Canada to Mexico. Does anybody here have some
first hand knowledge about power transfer at the scale of the US grid?



-- Lucky Green <mailto:shamrock@netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred.
   Defeat the Demopublican Unity Party. Vote no on Clinton/Dole in November.
   Vote Harry Browne for President.

It looks to me as if, what with all the earthquakes out there,
that some of those high voltage poles have tipped into the right
hand plane....



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