Millions of people across the planet are regularly left without electricity as a result of accidents in power systems. Sometimes, such accidents affect dozens of cities at the same time.
As a result of such an accident, a city is paralyzed, and in some cases, an entire state or country or several states. After all, due to the lack of electricity, traffic lights, cash registers, the Internet, television and radio, cellular communication stations stop working.
A power outage can have the most serious consequences, since in the modern world electricity plays a key role in the daily life of almost every person. Whatever the cause, be it a natural disaster, technical failure or human error, prolonged power outages can create chaos.
Below are a few examples that clearly show how serious a problem can be.
Power outage in the USA
In July 2003, one of the largest power outages in history occurred on the east coast of the United States and Canada. More than 50 million people were left without electricity for several days. The outage was caused by an accident in the power grid of the state of Ohio, causing a ripple effect that spread to neighboring states. Many cities plunged into chaos due to problems with transport and communications.
Electric Collapse in India
In July 2012, almost half of India's population (about 600 million people) remained without electricity for several hours. Among the reasons for the shutdown were the overload of the power grid and the shortage of coal at power plants.
Paralysis of an entire country
In March 2019, the whole of Venezuela faced a catastrophic power outage — more than 30 million people were forced to live without electricity for five days. The problems started with a fire at the main Guri substation, which seriously damaged electrical equipment. The power outage paralyzed the entire country, including residential buildings, hospitals, airports and water supply systems.
Power outage in Italy in 2003
In September 2003, about 57 million people were left without electricity due to a technical failure at one of the substations. This incident affected most of the country, including the capital. The transport system and communication network were paralyzed for several hours.
Lack of food in South Africa due to power outage
South Africa's state-owned energy company is faced electricity shortages and maintenance problems. In September 2019, most of the country was forced to remain without electricity for a week. Due to the apparent paralysis of many cities, people was facing food shortages.
What are the main causes of such accidents and can they be completely avoided in the future? What do you think should be done to avoid power outages?