It is possible to be surprised by some vulnerability that was not identified in the past. Sometimes it is simply a widget that failed and the repeated failure was not understood in advance.
Then there are
big problems that all of industry knows about that have existed for some time and no one has done anything about them because they were too big to address.
I’m putting this issue that is about transformers in the latter category. It has been known about for many, many years and little has been done to address that issue. Now there is a Government Accountability Office study, see below:
“
Electricity Grid: DOE Could Better Support Industry Efforts to Ensure Adequate Transformer Reserves”
A study and a plan don’t fix anything, but it is a start where nothing has been done strategically in the past. Let’s hope the “big one” waits 20-30 years so that progress might be made.
Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.
