There was even more trouble in Ohio leading up to last month's blackout
than previously reported, according to the Public Utilities Commission of
Ohio.
The regulator this week pinpointed at least 64 notable glitches
statewide in the four hours before the Aug. 14 blackout that affected
eight states and Ontario. Most of the problems involved power plants or
major lines that tripped off momentarily or went down completely.
The PUCO outlined the problems in its own version of a timeline of
events, which it started compiling the night of the blackout. The report
has been turned over to Gov. Bob Taft and the U.S.-Canadian task force
investigating the historic blackout.
Absent from the timeline, however, are events reported by the Midwest
Independent Transmission System Operator, which is the regional electric
traffic cop for Northeast Ohio and parts of 14 other states. The list of
problems noted by the Midwest ISO was included on the PUCO's original
timeline, but was deleted from the publicly released verison.
PUCO spokeswoman Shana Gerber said last week's version "was still in
draft form."
PUCO Chairman Alan Schriber said yesterday that two columns of
information, including the Midwest ISO column, were deleted so that the
report would fit on an 8½-by-11-inch sheet of paper. He promised to
release the full version.
More than 50 of the highlighted events involved FirstEnergy Corp. or
American Electric Power; the rest involved Cinergy of Cincinnati and
Dayton Power & Light.
The timeline contained more information than reports released by
FirstEnergy on Sept. 4 or by American Electric Power on Aug. 22.
"Clearly, there's more known now," said FirstEnergy spokesman Ralph
DiNicola. "If we had a timeline today, it might be a couple hundred pages
long."
The PUCO reported that among the 64 notable events was the tripping off
of some smaller transmission lines not included on the FirstEnergy report.
AEP spokeswoman Melissa McHenry said AEP wasn't as concerned about
detailing lines that tripped but came back on after a minute.
Perhaps more interesting, McHenry said, is listing all of the events
because one can see that everyone's problems were practically nonstop that
day. "That would not be a normal day," she said.
Gerber stressed that the PUCO isn't implying that any of the events
included on the timeline caused the blackout. The PUCO, however, did omit
some FirstEnergy events, saying they "did not cause or contribute to the
blackout."
Schriber last week said the binational task force should report the
cause or causes in mid- to late October.
After that, the task force is expected to recommend changes in
procedures or equipment in hopes of preventing future blackouts.
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