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On Saturday the entirety of Lebanon was plunged into darkness, with the electricity grid shut down completely after the small Mediterranean country’s two main power stations reportedly ran out of fuel. “The al Zahrani and the Deir Ammar power stations stopped working after supplies of diesel were apparently exhausted, and energy production dropped to below 200 megawatts,” Sky News reports.

A Lebanese official has confirmed to Reuters that the blackout is expected to last multiple days. “The Lebanese power network completely stopped working at noon today, and it is unlikely that it will work until next Monday, or for several days,” the official said.

Over the past months major Lebanese cities and towns have experienced periodic blackouts, but this looks to be the worst and most far-reaching and long lasting – increasing the misery of a Lebanese population still in the midst of an economic crisis, persistent fuel shortage, and which has seen the local currency plunge by 90% since 2019.

Much of the past year in Lebanon has witnessed scenes of sometimes miles-long lines at gas stations, with fights and disputes over supplies becoming almost routine. Residents and business owners have tried to endure via generators and hoarding personal fuel supplies insofar is possible for those who can afford it.

Some Lebanese interviewed by Middle East Eye told the publication that moving about an entirely darkened city at night is like “reliving the civil war” – in reference to lengthy war and collapse of infrastructure that gripped the country from 1975 to 1990.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

“It’s A Really Dangerous Situation” – Afghanistan Faces Imminent Blackouts As Power Bills Skyrocket

October 3, 2021

“It’s A Really Dangerous Situation” – Afghanistan Faces Imminent Blackouts As Power Bills Skyrocket

While the Taliban are clearly preoccupied with the security situation inside the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, as emphasized by Sunday’s bombing at a major mosque in Kabul (ironically, the former insurgents are facing an insurgency of their own led by ISIS-Khorasan, the Islamic State’s Central Asian faction), there’s an even more pressing issue currently confronting Afghanistan’s new leadership.

It’s looking increasingly likely that the Central Asian suppliers who contribute roughly half of the country’s electricity are getting ready to pull the plug, according to the guy who used to run Afghanistan’s state power authority, Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat, which he quit roughly two weeks after the Taliban takeover and likely fled. He at least felt safe enough to tell WSJ that the consequences of the Taliban not making good with Afghanistan’s Central Asian power suppliers could be “really dangerous.”

“The consequences would be countrywide, but especially in Kabul. There will be blackout and it would bring Afghanistan back to the Dark Ages when it comes to power and to telecommunications,” said Mr. Noorzai, who remains in close contact with DABS’s remaining management. “This would be a really dangerous situation.”

Afghanistan lacks a national power grid, and is thus dependent on a network of suppliers in Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to supply roughly half the country’s power, while Iran supplies some in the western part of the country. Domestic production inside Afghanistan mostly relies on hydroelectric power grids, which haven’t been functioning at anywhere near full capacity due to a drought.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Millions Of Chinese Residents Lose Power After Widespread, “Unexpected” Blackouts; Power Company Warns This Is “New Normal”

September 27, 2021

Millions Of Chinese Residents Lose Power After Widespread, “Unexpected” Blackouts; Power Company Warns This Is “New Normal”

Just yesterday we warned that a “Power Supply Shock Looms” as the energy crisis gripping Europe – and especially the UK – was set to hammer China, and just a few hours later we see this in practice as residents in three north-east Chinese provinces experienced unannounced power cuts as the electricity shortage which initially hit factories spreads to homes.

People living in Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces complained on social media about the lack of heating, and lifts and traffic lights not working.

There are several reasons for the surge in thermal coal, among them already extremely tight energy supply globally (that’s already seen chaos engulf markets in Europe); the sharp economic rebound from COVID lockdowns that has boosted demand from households and businesses; a warm summer which led to extreme air condition consumption across China; the escalating trade spat with Australia which had depressed the coal trade and Chinese power companies ramping up power purchases to ensure winter coal supply. Then there is Beijing’s pursuit of curbing carbon emissions – Xi Jinping wants to ensure blue skies at the Winter Olympics in Beijing next February, showing the international community that he’s serious about de-carbonizing the economy – that has led to artificial bottlenecks in the coal supply chain.

Whatever the reason, it’s just getting started: as BBC reported, one power company said it expected the power cuts to last until spring next year, and that unexpected outages would become “the new normal.” Its post, however, was later deleted.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Nationwide Blackout Hits Syria After Gas Pipeline Bombed

September 18, 2021

Nationwide Blackout Hits Syria After Gas Pipeline Bombed

A blackout has reportedly plunged all of Syria into darkness Friday into Saturday, with Syria’s state-run SANA announcing the nationwide power outage is due to an attack on a gas site and pipeline in southern Damascus.

Into the overnight hours, electricity reportedly returned to much of the capital of Damascus, while the Minister of Electricity Ghassan al-Zamil vowed to restore the rest of the country’s power in a matter of “hours” as technicians are on the scene.

*Illustrative image: gas pipeline bombing from earlier in the war, Reuters file.*

It was part of Hezbollah’s promise to get Iranian fuel into Lebanon amid the country’s energy crisis, which has seen its own severe blackouts hit major cities and towns over much of the past month.

There’s also the possibility of an attack on Syria’s infrastructure by remnant anti-Assad insurgent groups, also as there’s again in recent weeks been renewed fierce fighting centered on the southern Syria city of Deraa.

According to a popular Syria blogger and commentator, “Sources in southern Damascus reported hearing an explosion seconds before the blackout. All of this happened as the second batch of tankers carrying Iranian fuel was crossing into Lebanon.”

Speculating on the question of a possible external sabotage operation that caused the blackout, given the deeply suspicious timing, geopolitical commentator and Syria watcher Aaron Maté said, “Just as it helps Hezbollah bring desperately needed fuel into Lebanon, Syria suffers a sabotage attack that leads to complete blackout.”

“This is on top of the regular power shortages caused primarily by US sanctions & the 10-year dirty war,” Maté added.

Fire At UK-France Subsea Power Cable Could Trigger Winter Blackouts

September 17, 2021

Fire At UK-France Subsea Power Cable Could Trigger Winter Blackouts

A fire in a subsea cable has dramatically reduced power imports from France until March, U.K.’s National Grid Plc said, deepening the energy crisis that threatens winter blackouts for millions.

The timing couldn’t be worse. Before the fire, the U.K. was already experiencing a five-year low in spare winter capacity. Compound this with gas shortages and the lack of renewable energy sources, sending power prices on a record-breaking run. The country may experience grid chaos in the coming months.

“If we don’t start to remedy the situation, we are going to be facing blackouts this winter,” Catherine Newman, chief executive officer of Limejump Ltd., a unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, told Bloomberg on Thursday. “If things don’t start to reverse soon, we will see the industry getting turned off across the board.”

“If anything goes wrong, we might not have anything left in the back pocket,” said Tom Edwards, a consultant at Cornwall Insight Ltd., an adviser to the government and utilities. “If a nuke trips offline or something else big, that could cause issues because we might not have anything to replace it.”

Britain receives power via six subsea cables, and two of them are connected to France’s power grids of more than 56 nuclear power plants.

The cable’s total capacity will be shut off until March 2022. The shortage is expected to exacerbate power price volatility when peak demand is seen in the winter months.

“The outage is going to lift the potential for price volatility as long as its offline,” said Glenn Rickson, head of power analysis at S&P Global Platts.

The compounding energy crunch is fueling concerns about inflation when the economy is still recovering from the pandemic.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Hurricane Ida Exposes Grid Weaknesses As 2,000 Miles of High-Voltage Lines Damaged

August 31, 2021

Hurricane Ida Exposes Grid Weaknesses As 2,000 Miles of High-Voltage Lines Damaged

More than a million customers across Louisiana are without power on Tuesday morning. Some reports indicate it could take weeks for the lights to come back on as thousands of miles of transmission lines were damaged after Hurricane Ida rolled through on Sunday.

The Category 4 hurricane raises fresh questions about how well New Orleans and other coastal areas across Lousiana are prepared for natural disasters. As of 0630 ET, PowerOutage.US reports a little more than one million customers are without power across the state’s coastal plain.

Energy provider Entergy Corp has been surveying the damage since Monday and has found 207 transmission lines spanning more than 2,000 miles have been knocked out by the storm, according to WSJ.

Rod West, Entergy’s group president of utility operations, said drones, helicopters, and land-based vehicles are surveying the damage and estimate it could take at least three weeks to restore power.

“The hard part is that the geography is a rather wide swath,” West said. “That three weeks is not going to apply to everybody the same way.” He added some transmission towers need to be replaced entirely due to “significant wind” damage.

West said the damage to the transmission system is more severe than Hurricane Katrina because Ida made landfall at 150 mph.

Besides transmission lines, some of Entergy’s powerplants have sustained damage. West said the damage at some plants would not hinder energy production. One of their nuclear power plants 25 miles west of New Orleans on the Mississippi River was shuttered ahead of the storm.

West said they’d rebuilt their transmission system over the years to withstand speeds of 150 miles an hour. Still, it appears some of those high-voltage cables that carry electricity from power plants to substations that connect to lower-voltage distribution lines, were no match for Ida.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Beirut Goes Dark As Economic Tailspin Sees Dire Fuel & Electricity Shortages

August 14, 2021

Beirut Goes Dark As Economic Tailspin Sees Dire Fuel & Electricity Shortages

Starting Wednesday night Lebanon’s Central Bank announced that fuel subsidies have been halted, already at a moment where there’s been scarcity of both gas and electricity. Fuel prices are expected to at least quadruple, leading to a national scramble for fuel, exacerbating rolling blackouts akin to what’s become the tragic “norm” of recent years in neighboring war-torn Syrian.

International reports are underscoring that the enduring economic crisis beginning in 2019 which sparked a year of mass protests and a currency crisis, and subsequent failed attempts to stave off total collapse amid a drastic “shock” change in government, are now coming to a head, sending already impoverished areas of the country of nearly seven million spiraling into steadily worsened conditions.

Regional director of humanitarian aid NGO Crisis Group, Heiko Wimmen, was cited in CNN as saying “This is obviously going to ripple through the whole economy.” He emphasized that seemingly overnight basic staples that support daily life have now become a “luxury”.

“For a large part of the population, electricity will become a luxury. Driving your car will become a luxury, too. Transportation will become a luxury,” Wimmen added.

The cutting of subsidies was expected, but still a “shock” nonetheless. Like everything else in Lebanon energy has been severely mismanaged, after already the government suspended lines of credit to fuel importers.

So the sudden liberalization of fuel prices meant whole villages, towns, and parts of cities were plunged into darkness overnight as not even generators could keep the lights on:

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

California Grid Strained As Power Shortfalls Loom

July 10, 2021

California Grid Strained As Power Shortfalls Loom

Amid another heat wave across the Western half of the US, California issued a stage-2 power-grid emergency alert Friday and urged customers to conserve power as temperatures surpassed 100 degrees, according to The Sacramento Bee.

The state’s grid operator, California Independent System Operator (ISO), issued the alert on Friday, which is one step away from rolling blackouts.

Readers may recall, as early as Tuesday, we outlined how “scorching temperatures return to the West, persisting through mid-week, and reappear this weekend.” By Friday, we gave the full breakdown of the second heat wave and its impact for the next several days, affecting upwards of 28 million people from California to Washington State.

Excessive heat warnings have already been posted for California, Nevada, western Arizona, and western Utah. Watches have also been posted for interior portions of Oregon and southern Idaho.

By late Friday, ISO discontinued the emergency, but with multiple 100-degree-plus days forecasted for Saturday and Sunday for Californians, the power grid operator may have to reissue grid alerts.

Large swaths of the West could experience temperatures 20 or more degrees above average. Below is a temperature anomalies forecast showing the heat dome could last through mid-next week

For those who are curious what “stage 2” means, power consumption is exceptionally high in the state, and the grid has become “reserve deficient,” allowing grid operators to resupply the grid with generators. If supply doesn’t meet demand, the next stage would be rolling blackouts to prevent the grid from collapse. The alert was the first in 2021 and was last declared in August 2020.

Making matters worse is a wildfire raging in southern Oregon and may threaten transmission lines bringing power into California.

The wildfire prompted California Gov. Gavin Newsom to issue an emergency proclamation to free up additional energy supplies.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Why Isn’t the US Preparing for EMP War Like the Rest of the World?

July 4, 2021

Why Isn’t the US Preparing for EMP War Like the Rest of the World?

You’re likely already familiar with the 2009 EMP Commission Report. It was this report that raised the issue of EMP-preparedness for the American public. It’s notorious stating that just one year after an EMP attack, 90% of the American population would be dead, caused alarm throughout multiple sectors of society.

Books began to be written on the subject. Sales of Tedd Koppel’s Lights Out, Forstchen’s One Second After, and Crawford’s Lights Out quickly reached blockbuster levels. And while I believe that these books (and that report) brought the issue of an electromagnetic pulse to light for Americans, I don’t believe it showed Americans just how real of a threat it is.

To truly understand just how very real of a risk this is, I believe all we have to do is look at the battle plans of some of the nations that hate America most.

Let’s start with Russia

**Non-Contact Warfare was the name of Russian General Vladimir Slipchenko’s military textbook. Within this text, he explains how EMPs are the greatest revolution in military affairs in history. According to Slipchenko, the possession of an EMP renders an enemy’s armies, navies, and air forces completely obsolete, and it’s hard to argue with him there.

If you can’t get your missile defense systems online, if your tanks won’t run, if your planes have all just fallen out of the sky, you’re kind of screwed, aren’t you?

The flagship journal of the Russian General Staff, Military Thought, further echoes this concept. An article within the journal titled “Weak Points of the US Concept of Network-Centric Warfare” specifically points out the use of an EMP as a possible means of defeating the US.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Triple-Digit Heat Dome Bakes Pacific Northwest, Triggers First Blackout

June 29, 2021

Triple-Digit Heat Dome Bakes Pacific Northwest, Triggers First Blackout

The Pacific Northwest is experiencing a multi-day heat wave that we said last week would be “historic.” The unrelenting triple-digit temperatures shattered records across the region and have stressed out power grids where rolling blackouts have been reported.

Bloomberg reports Avista Corporation, which supplies electricity to 340,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers, triggered its first rolling blackout across its grid after it became overloaded Monday evening. Rotating outages first hit 9,300 customers late Monday and could expand as temperatures remain well above average through July 4.

Avista was the first major utility to report rolling blackouts in the Northwest region, and with positive temperature anomalies to linger through the week, it may not be the last.

Avista has never “experienced this kind of demand on our system and this kind of impact to our system,” Heather Rosentrater, senior vice president of energy delivery at the utility company, told reporters during a press conference Monday. She called the weather event “very unprecedented.”

As we noted last Friday, “a “historic” heat wave was set to transform the Pacific Northwest into a furnace this weekend. It has the potential to shatter long-standing temperature records.” And that is precisely what it did.

Major metros, such as Portland and Seattle, broke record highs by huge margins as positive temperature anomalies reached between 30 to 40 degrees.

Portland hit 116 degrees by Monday afternoon, the highest temperature in more than eight decades of record-keeping. It was the third day of triple-digit temps.

Seattle recorded 108 degrees Monday afternoon, easily surpassing its previous 103-degree record from 2009. Positive temperature anomalies for the city yesterday were 34 degrees, usually temps average around 74 degrees.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Blackouts, firestorms, and energy use

June 8, 2021

Blackouts, firestorms, and energy use

Preface. Blackouts are more and more likely in the future from fires, hurricanes, natural gas shortages and more. Below is an account from a friend who had to evacuate due to a wildfire.

Blackouts in the news:

2021. Texas Was Seconds Away From Going Dark for Months.

***

This is a letter from someone I know about his experiences when PG&E cut his power off (and 2.5 million others).

Last Saturday around 2 pm we received notice that our area was under an evacuation warning owing to the huge Kincade fire that erupted on Wednesday evening (which we watched in terror and awe from our front porch). At 6:30 pm the order became mandatory. In the end, nearly 200,000 people, or about a third of the population of Sonoma County, were evacuated.

This was our first experience having to plan and prepare to leave on a moment’s notice. We found refuge with a friend in San Francisco, where we stayed until the order was downgraded to a warning on the following Tuesday. The experience highlighted a number of lessons for us.

First and foremost, do not ever evacuate without taking your dog’s favorite toy with you. This oversight necessitated a trip to a pet store to find the item in question. Having a dog certainly helped us keep focused and calmer, although I know she sensed that we were quite out of sorts for days.

Second, we discovered that fuel disappears quickly. We went out 15 minutes after the initial warning was issued, and the closest gasoline station already had 7 of 8 pumps taped closed. The second station had fuel, but long lines coming in from each direction. Of course, once the power went off, there was no fuel to be had at all.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Who’s To Blame For The Texas Power Crisis?

February 19, 2021

Who’s To Blame For The Texas Power Crisis?

Our last report focused on the uniqueness of the Texas wholesale electricity market, ERCOT, and how it was specifically designed to evade federal utility regulation. And as if he were our paid spokesperson, former Texas governor Rick Perry stated publicly that Texans were happy to suffer blackouts and other hardships if it meant evading federal regulatory scrutiny. Whether the good (and shivering) citizens of the Lone Star State agree is another matter. But today, instead of dealing with politics, we’ll take a closer look at ERCOT as a state planning agency.

First the good news. One of the hardest parts of every planning agency’s job is correctly estimating future demand. This is doubly hard in a dynamic, fast growing economy like Texas. Consequently we were surprised at how good their planning estimate was for this winter’s electrical load of about 67,000 megawatts. Because of the blackouts we can’t precisely know what peak electrical demand in Texas would’ve been given the extreme winter demands from home heating and the like. But the shadow estimates published by ERCOT suggested about 72,000 megawatts of peak demand.

In total, ERCOT has the ability to supply electrical capacity of about 80,000 megawatts. This amount of available electric power generation should have been adequate to meet demand this week. Not by a wide margin but adequate. Barely. As an aside we should point out that ERCOT runs “light” in terms of electric system reserve capacity with reserves typically about 8%. This compares with other US grids where targeted reserve margins are about 15%. Lower reserve margins are cheaper but mean less back up for emergencies.

Our first tentative conclusion is that Texas would have withstood this recent snowstorm and polar vortex event in pretty good shape from a grid perspective IF thermal plants were available to meet skyrocketing demand.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

California Begins Cutting Power To 361,000 Customers As Fire Risk Surges

October 25, 2020

California Begins Cutting Power To 361,000 Customers As Fire Risk Surges

Facing bone-crushing dryness and the strongest winds of the wildfire season, California’s largest utility company, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) which filed for historic bankruptcy due to its role in previous infernos sweeping across the state has “de-energized certain electrical lines” in Northern California, which may result in what could be the largest mass blackout of the year.

PG&E released a statement Sunday morning, informing customers that 361,000 homes and or businesses were part of the blackout, affecting 36 counties, mainly in Northern California, starting at 10:00 PST. Listed below are the counties affected by the planned blackouts:

PG&E’s initial projection of homes and businesses that would lose power on Sunday is down 105k from Friday’s 466k estimate. The power company’s primary reason to de-energize some of its power lines is that high winds are expected on Sunday, increasing the risk for trees and or limbs to fly into powerlines and potentially ignite fires in regions of low humidity and dry vegetation.

“This event looks particularly dangerous due to a combination of factors that we continue to track,” said Scott Strenfel, PG&E’s head of meteorology and fire science, who was quoted by Bloomberg. Strong winds and low humidity were expected throughout the day on Sunday, he said.

The next round of blackouts, expected imminently, will be a devastating blow for the state, already battered by extreme weather this fire season, scorching more than 4 million acres so far. PG&E has preemptively cut power four times this season.

High wind gusts are expected for some regions in Northern California through Monday, tweeted The National Weather Service (NWS) Sacramento.

NWS Sacramento outlines a “dangerous” fire risk for Northern California through Sunday.

“Dangerous Critical to Extremely Critical fire weather conditions are expected across portions of northern California today, as strong offshore winds occur over critically dry fuels. Strongest winds are expected tonight into early Monday morning.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

10 Blackout-Proof Preps You Need To Get Through Extreme Weather Emergencies

August 16, 2020

10 Blackout-Proof Preps You Need To Get Through Extreme Weather Emergencies

Generally speaking, the American lifestyle is largely dependent upon the power grid. And when the grid goes down during the hottest times of the year, our eyes are opened to the need to have essential off-grid preps to survive.

A sweltering heat wave that has enveloped most parts of California causing a surge of demand on the power grid and energy companies made the decision to start rolling blackouts during the hottest part of the day.

The heat wave is ramping up this weekend, and some areas could reach triple-digit record highs, weather.com meteorologist Jonathan Belles said, adding that the temperatures are more typical of mid-summer than August.

An excessive heat warning was issued by the National Weather Service for Friday through Tuesday, and the combination of heat and wildfires prompted air quality warnings as well.

Ozone pollution in some areas reached levels Friday afternoon not seen in 10 years, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Gonzales said several different factors would play into whether the rolling blackouts continue.

“We’re dealing with weather, clouds, wildfires … these are quickly evolving situations, quickly changing,” she told the AP.

The situation will be evaluated on a day to day basis, she said.

Source

Learn more about rolling blackouts

Many believed rolling blackouts were a thing of the past and, in California’s case residents have not experienced one for 20 years. But all that changed Friday when the lights went out on 350,000 thousand homes. Many were caught off guard and felt PG&E had not fully communicated the likelihood of this occurring. But the worst is yet to come as more rolling blackouts are planned for the coming week. That said, it is important to know that certain preparedness items can provide safety and protection when you are off the grid during the hottest part of the year.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Isaias Aftermath: 2 Million Still Without Power Across Northeast; At Least 12 Tornados Confirmed

August 6, 2020

Isaias Aftermath: 2 Million Still Without Power Across Northeast; At Least 12 Tornados Confirmed

Tropical Storm Isaias is long gone, but there’s widespread damage along the East Coast and more than 2 million homes in the Northeast without power.

According to PowerOutage.US, 2.2 million of the 6.4 million affected electric customers remain without power in the aftermath of Isaias.

PowerOutage.US said utility workers from across the nation have responded to East Coast states to aid in the recovery effort to restore power. So far, 65% of affected customers have seen their lights turned back on.

From the Carolinas to the Delmarva Peninsula to New Jersey to New York City, Isaias unleashed tropical storm conditions earlier this week. For those who are curious, here’s the full track map of the storm:

At one point, nearly 100 tornado warnings were issued across ten states as the storm raced up the East Coast.

Isaias spawned at least a dozen confirmed twisters.

Here’s some video of the damage:

The aftermath of a tornado in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

Buildings ripped apart in Dover, Deleware.

Tornado touched down in Cape May, New Jersey.

Homes damaged in Maryland.

“Damage from isaias in Courtland va I worked down there today it was unreal first real tornado damage I’ve seen first hand,” said one Twitter user.

What Americans saw on the news this week…

Stressful times.

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