The main cause of this disaster was a software bug in the energy management system used by firstenergy corporation, located in akron, ohio. The blackouts primary cause was a software bug in the alarm system at the control room of firstenergy, an akron. Jan 05, 20 the great northeast blackout of 2003 caused the failure of more than 508 generating units at 265 separate power plants, causing almost one in every six people in the united states to lose power for up to 2 days. The blackout demonstrated the interconnected nature of the north american infrastructure, and its vulnerability to small and. The line shortcircuited and, well, you know how it ended. The main cause of this disaster was a software bug in the energy management system used by. Software bug contributed to 2003 blackout ars technica. Nov 11, 20 in 2003, a blackout crippled areas of the u. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and the canadian province of ontario on thursday, august 14, 2003, just after 4.
A decade ago today, more than 50 million people lost power during the great northeast blackout of 2003. In cleveland, ohio, an overgrown tree branch touched a sagging, overloaded power line. Aug 14, 2018 its been 15 years since the 2003 blackout that left metro detroit in the dark. The blackouts proximate cause was a software bug in the alarm system at the control room of firstenergy, an akron, ohiobased company, which. For some customers, power was not restored for nearly four days. Deadlock, northeast blackout of 2003, heartbleed, buffer overflow, therac25, memory leak, cloudbleed. The northeast blackout struck 15 years ago today extremetech. Final report on the august 14, 2003 blackout in the united. Even if the tripped lines and firstenergys failure to detect and report them.
Much larger than the northeast blackout of 1965, in america alone, this blackout affected 45 million people in 8 states. To some, power was only restored several days later. Ten years after the great northeast blackout of 2003. The task force responsible for investigating the cause of the aug. Aug 14, 2019 blackout hits northeast united states a major outage knocked out power across the eastern united states and parts of canada on august 14, 2003. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and the canadian province of ontario on.
On august 14, 2003, an enormous electrical blackout struck the northeast and upper midwest of the united states and a large part of western ontario, canada, leaving about or aboot in the great white north 55 million people without electricity for a period lasting between 7 hours and 2 days. Created by laura cronin, conor mccarter, and stephanie tilden. The northeast blackout of 2003 1 ranks high on the list. About eight weeks after the blackout, the bug was unmasked as a particularly. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a reallife event. Fifteen years after the 2003 northeast blackout, the likelihood of a. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states, and the canadian province of ontario on august 14, 2003, beginning just after 4. On thursday, august 14, 2003 a power outage affected an estimated 55 million people in canada and the united states. It was caused by a software bug in the alarm system at a control room of the firstenergy corporation. Ten years ago today, large portions of the midwest and northeast united states and into canada went dark.
The blackout that exposed the flaws in the grid the new. Analysis of the risk and uncertainty chevalier, samuel c. The outage, which was much more widespread than the northeast blackout of 1965, affected an estimated 10 million people in ontario and 45 million people in eight u. Aug 15, 20 the recordbreaking outage, caused by a software bug in the control room of an energy company in ohio, had a catastrophic effect on the entire. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the. The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific american. Its been 16 years since the 2003 blackout that left metro. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. The lack of alarm left operators unaware of the need to redistribute power after overloaded transmission lines hit unpruned foliage, which triggered a race condition in the control software. What should have been a manageable and local blackout developed into the entire northeast region failing. The northeastern blackout 2003 the blackout report. Aug, 2008 the 2003 northeast blackout five years later.
New york news coverage of the northeast blackout of 2003. This greatly exaggerates the actual area of the blackout. Caused by inadequately pruned trees and a software bug, this cascading sequence of. Look beyond recycling to the higher goal of sustainability. A previouslyunknown software flaw in a widelydeployed general electric energy management system contributed to the devastating scope of the august 14th northeastern u. One of them was buried in a massive piece of software compiled from four million lines of c code and running on an. Uncategorized software bug contributed to 2003 blackout a flaw in general electrics management system contributed to last august 14th fred locklear feb, 2004 4. A map of the states and provinces affected by the w. The blackouts primary cause was a software bug in the alarm system at a control room. The department of energy and natural resources canada jointly commissioned a task force that. The blackouts primary cause was a software bug in the alarm system at the control room of firstenergy, an akron, ohiobased company, which rendered operators unaware of the need to redistribute load after overloaded transmission lines drooped into foliage. Senior full stack developer software engineer scrum agile. The 2003 northeast blackoutfive years later scientific. I will move this to northeast american blackout of 2003 in two hours time.
Fifty million people were affected, including residents of new york, cleveland and detroit, as well as toronto and ottawa, canada. The system failed to warn operators of the need to redistribute power after overloaded transmission lines drooped into overgrown trees. Aug 14, 2018 fifteen years ago, a software bug resulted in over 50 million people losing power, crippling the northeast power grid. What began as a software bug in the electrical grid of ohio soon escalated into a catastrophic event that left nearly 45 million americans without power, ultimately becoming the worst blackout in north american history. At this writing, it appears that the 2003 blackout started in facilities owned and. A software bug invoked a blackout spanning the northeast, midwest, and parts of canada. So, if there are no objections, i will move this to northeast american blackout of 2003 in two hours time. Tougher regulatory measures are in place, but were still a long way from a smart power grid. What should have been a manageable, local blackout cascaded into widespread distress on the electric grid. The blackouts primary cause was a software bug in the alarm system at a control room of the firstenergy corporation, located in ohio. Software bug contributed to blackout securityfocus. Northeast blackout of 2003 the northeast blackout of 2003 was a massive widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states, and ontario, canada on thursday, august 14, 2003, at approximately 4. It turns out that a deeply embedded bug was triggered by a series of events on august 14th, and when a backup server kicked in, it could not keep up.
The cascading event, which started shortly after 4. Northeast blackout of 2003archive 1 jump to navigation jump to search. The report makes clear that this blackout could have been prevented and that immediate actions must be taken in both the united states and canada to ensure that our electric system is more reliable. The great northeast blackout of 2003 caused the failure of more than 508 generating units at 265 separate power plants, causing almost one in every six people in the united states to lose power for up to 2 days. The map shows an entire state or province as red, when in some cases only a small portion e. Aug 14, 2019 the northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states, and the canadian province of ontario on august 1428, 2003, beginning just after 4. Fifteen years ago, a software bug resulted in over 50 million people losing power, crippling the northeast power grid. The northeast blackout of 2003 was one of the most critical blackouts in the history which affected more than 50 million people in both the united states and canada. Northeast blackout of 2003 the northeast blackout of 2003 is the second most widespread power outage in history. Ten years later, we are still grappling with concerns over the vulnerability of the power grid. Most places restored power by midnight, as early as 6 p. Elektriciteitsstoring in noordamerika op 14 augustus 2003 wikipedia. Et, 21 power plants shut down in just three minutes.
In other areas it took nearly a week or two for power to be restored. The blackouts cause was primarily a software bug in the alarm system at a control room of the firstenergy corporation, located in ohio. Fifteen years ago, a software bug resulted in over 50 million people losing. Geckil, economist aeg working paper 20032 introduction on thursday, august 14, 2003, an electrical disruption caused a loss of electrical service to consumers and industry acro ss the northeast. Did a ninja squirrel cause the northeast blackout in 2003. College of engineering and mathematical sciences university of vermont, burlington, vt abstractin august of 2003, a series of cascading line trips and generator outages caused over 55 million customers to lose access to electrical power. Caused by inadequately pruned trees and a software bug, this cascading sequence of infrastructure failures holds important lessons for the world of everyday engineering.
The blackouts proximate cause was a software bug in the alarm system at the control room of firstenergy, an akron, ohio. Most did not get their power back until two days later. Deadlock, northeast blackout of 2003, heartbleed, buffer overflow, therac25, memory leak, cloudbleed, shellshock. Software bug contributed to blackout kevin poulsen, securityfocus 20040211. August 1416, 2003 a software bug in the energy companys alarm system left causing operators to remain unaware of the need to redistribute load after overloaded transmission lines drooped into foliage. A software bug failed to redistribute the overloaded transmission lines. The blackout was, in fact, triggered on a hot day by an untrimmed tree in ohio and was aided by a hung alarm system. Today is the tenyear anniversary of the northeast blackout of 2003. Software failure cited in august blackout investigation computerworld. The blackouts proximate cause was a software bug in the alarm system at the control room of firstenergy, an akron, ohiobased. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and the canadian province of ontario on thursday.
Then close the course by considering the great northeast blackout of 2003. As the august 14th blackout began, a flaw buried in widelydeployed. I was the first journalist to report on a bug in a ge energy management system that resulted in an alarm system failure at firstenergys. A software bug stalled firstenergys alarm system for more than an hour. A major outage knocked out power across the eastern united states and parts of canada on august 14, 2003.
Software failure cited in august blackout investigation. Software bug in the alarm system in the control room of firstenergy the northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states, and the canadian province of ontario on august 14, 2003, beginning just after 4. The primary cause was a software bug in the alarm system at the control room of firstenergy. One of them was buried in a massive piece of software compiled from four million lines of c code and running on an energy management computer in ohio. One of them was buried in a massive piece of software compiled from four. Aug 14, 2018 2003 blackout the northeast blackout struck 15 years ago today august 14, 2018 at 4. The southwest blackout of 2003 1218 words bartleby. Northeast blackout of 2003 how can a software bug of an energy company in ohio lead to a blackout in new york city. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading focus on. Pedestrians and traffic leaving downtown manhattan crossing the queensboro bridge after the onset of the largest power blackout in american history, august 14, 2003. The northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states, and the canadian province of ontario on august 1428, 2003, beginning just after 4. May 03, 2016 the northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern and midwestern united states and the canadian province of ontario on thursday. What should have been a manageable local blackout cascaded into the collapse of the entire northeast region. What began as a software bug in the electrical grid of ohio soon escalated into a catastrophic event that left nearly 45 million americans without power, ultimately becoming the worst blackout in north.
An analysis of the causes and consequences of the northeast blackout of 2003. Just past 4 pm on august 14, 2003, a widespread power outage rippled across the northeastern and midwestern united states as well as throughout ontario. Jul 17, 2016 the outage, which was much more widespread than the northeast blackout of 1965, affected approximately 10 million people in ontario and 45 million people in eight u. Jan 05, 2015 the northeast blackout of 2003 1 ranks high on the list. A software bug at firstenergy corporation in ohio caused this power outage. Aug 14, 20 ten years ago today, large portions of the midwest and northeast united states and into canada went dark. Its been 15 years since the 2003 blackout that left metro. The recordbreaking outage, caused by a software bug in the control room of an energy company in ohio, had a catastrophic effect on the entire. Caused by inadequately pruned trees and a software.