The author, John Marek, is a writer and CEO of the Anson Economic Development Partnership.
Twenty years ago this week, a historic event unfolded across the eastern United States, leaving millions of people in darkness and revealing the vulnerabilities of an interconnected power grid. The Blackout of 2003 was a stark reminder of the importance of reliable electricity and a catalyst for significant changes in how we think about and manage our energy infrastructure.
On Aug. 14, 2003, at around 4:10 p.m. EDT, a seemingly routine disturbance within the power grid triggered a chain reaction that eventually led to a cascading blackout. The event unfolded rapidly, affecting parts of eight U.S. states and even parts of Canada. Cities like New York, Detroit and Cleveland were plunged into darkness, as more than 50 million people found themselves without electricity. I was one of them.
I had flown to Cleveland earlier that week for a multi-day business trip. As was my routine, I booked a room at the Hampton Inn near the airport. The location was convenient to the highway and within walking distance of several restaurants, so it was an ideal place for me to set up shop when working with clients in northern Ohio. I had wrapped my work for the week around 4 that afternoon and was scheduled on an early-morning flight back to Charlotte. I was looking forward to a pleasant summer evening, a nice meal at Damon’s (The Place for Ribs!) and watching a movie on HBO in my room.
When I got off the exit, there was an unusual backup at the light, which I soon realized was because the light wasn’t functioning. After carefully navigating through the snarled traffic, arrived at my hotel and entered the lobby to find the power was out there, too. I asked the desk clerk what was up, and he said he didn’t know but that it was probably a blown transformer or downed power line from a traffic accident, and he expected it to come back on soon. He also told me that the emergency lighting was on in the hallways and that the key card readers had their own batteries, so I should be able to get into my room.
The origins of the blackout traced back to a combination of human and technical factors. A series of failures within the energy management system, exacerbated by human errors, set the stage for a chain reaction that compromised the stability of the entire power grid. A high-voltage power line in Ohio sagged into a tree, creating an overload that caused the line to shut down. This event, in turn, shifted the load onto other power lines, causing them to become overloaded and ultimately leading to their shutdowns as well.
When I got to my room, I called my office in Charlotte and learned the event was impacting a wide swath of the east coast. The news outlets weren’t exactly sure what was happening, but several major cities had gone offline. Being less than two years after 9/11, there was a fear it might be some sort of terrorist attack, but that hadn’t been verified. I couldn’t help but consider I had also been stuck in Cleveland, albeit on the other side of town, on 9/11. Anticipating a long, dark night, I decided to go out and see if anything was still open; maybe buy a flashlight and some food. Everything within walking distance was closed or closing, except the Chinese restaurant in the strip mall next to the hotel. Their grill and fryer were powered by natural gas, so they could still cook, and they feared the food in their refrigerator would spoil anyway if the power was out for more than a few hours, so they might as well cook it all up. Of course, they could only take cash, and the soda machine didn’t work, but at least I had a decent meal.
The blackout exposed critical vulnerabilities within the power grid infrastructure. The absence of proper monitoring and communication systems, along with a lack of coordination between utilities, prevented swift identification and containment of the initial issue. Furthermore, the interconnected nature of the grid, while designed to enhance reliability, also proved to be its Achilles’ heel as the cascading effect spread across multiple states.
By the time night fell on the city, the emergency hall lighting had started to fade. I also noticed the bedside clock radio was still showing the time. I supposed there was a battery backup in it and tried turning the radio on. It crackled to life, to my surprise and delight, and I tuned in a local news station. By this time it had been fairly well established that it wasn’t an attack, just a massive failure of the electric grid. The bad news was that the estimates of how long it would take to restore power ranged from several hours to several days. That’s when I remembered I had a flight out the next morning.
I called the airline and was told that no one knew anything except that most of the airports along the east coast were closed. They suggested I call back in the morning but offered that it was doubtful my flight would depart as scheduled. The room was now completely dark, except for the glow of the numbers on the clock radio, and I wondered how I was going to get around. By sheer coincidence, my boss had given me a little LED keychain flashlight for Christmas the year before, which provided enough light for me to complete my evening ablutions and even read a little before drifting off to sleep.
I had set my alarm for two hours before my scheduled departure and called the airline immediately upon rising. There was still no electricity. They told me to call back at 8:30 but that their best guess was my flight would depart late afternoon, at the earliest. Well, that wasn’t too bad, all things considered. I’d had longer delays for weather and mechanical issues. I cleaned up as best I could with cold water and a washcloth and got dressed. Shortly afterward, the power came back on and I walked down to the lobby where the staff had put out the usual “continental” breakfast and was making coffee.
At 8:30, I dutifully called the airline and was told my flight was now scheduled to depart at 9:30.
“You mean 9:30 tonight?”
“No, 9:30 this morning.”
“WHAT. THE. %#$*.”
Fortunately, the hotel was just a few miles from the airport, but even so I was running to catch my flight like O.J. Simpson in those (pre-Bronco) Hertz commercials.
In the days following the blackout efforts were focused on restoring power and investigating the causes of the event. The incident prompted a thorough review of the energy infrastructure and led to significant reforms in the energy sector. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) was given more authority to enforce reliability standards, and investments were made to enhance grid monitoring, communication and response capabilities.
The Blackout of 2003 serves as a landmark event that highlighted the need for continuous investment in the modernization and improvement of energy infrastructure. It also reinforced the importance of cross-border collaboration in managing and maintaining reliable power grids. Subsequent advancements in grid technology, such as smart grids and improved sensors, have increased the ability to detect and respond to potential disruptions more effectively.
Still, the vulnerabilities exposed in our reliance on the grid caused many to take action to ensure some semblance of off-grid resilience. Sales of home generators spiked in the months following the blackout, and there was a renewed interest in stockpiling candles, batteries and nonperishable food products, just in case. Two decades later, most people have forgotten about the Blackout of 2003, but the simple truth is it will happen again; it did, in fact, in Texas last year. But unlike that pleasant summer day in 2003, the Texas blackout occurred during an unusual cold spell in the dead of winter. People died. Maybe we didn’t learn as much as we thought we did. As those sage philosophers ABBA once said, history is always repeating itself.