This document summarizes several major blackouts that have occurred worldwide. It provides details on the number of people affected, location, duration and key causes and lessons learned from each event. Some of the major blackouts discussed include the Northeast Blackout of 1965 affecting 30 million people in the US and Canada for 12 hours due to human error. The Southern Brazil Blackout of 1999 left 97 million without power for 30 hours after a lightning strike caused protective systems to fail. The Northeast Blackout of 2003 was caused by inadequate grid monitoring and affected 55 million for 16 hours, highlighting the need for mandatory reliability standards.

1. MAJOR BLACKOUT IN THE WORLD
By:
Chandan Kumar
ET ,WRLDC

2. MAJOR BLACKOUT IN THE WORLD
MILLIONS OF
NAME OF BLACKOUT PEOPLE REGION DURATION
AFFECTED
NORTH EASTERN PART OF NORTH
09-11-1965
NORTHEAST BLACKOUT 1965 30 AMERICA,
SOUTH-EASTERN PART OF CANADA 12 Hours
SOUTHERN BRAZIL BLACKOUT SOUTH AND SOUTH-EASTERN 11-03-1999
97 BRAZIL
1999 30 Hours
14-08-2003/15-08-2003
NORTH EASTERN REGION OF
55 NORTH AMERICAAMERICA
16 Hours
NORTHEAST BLACKOUT 2003
ITALY, 28-09-2003
ITALY BLACKOUT 2003 55 PARTS OF SWITZERLAND 3 Hours
18-08-2005
JAVA BALI BLACKOUT 2005 100 INDONESIA
7 Hours
CENTRAL, SOUTH AND SOUTH-
BRAZIL AND PARAGUAY 10-11-2009/11-11-2009
87 EASTERN BRAZIL AND ALL
BLACKOUT 2009 PARAGUAY 5 Hours

3. NORTH EAST BLACKOUT 1965
THE EVENT
It all started with the tripping of single transmission line from Niagara generating
station .
Within 2.5 seconds, four other transmission lines became overloaded and tripped,
isolating 1,800 MW of generation at Niagara Station.
After their isolation, the generators became unstable and tripped off-line.
The northeast power system became unstable and separated into isolated power
systems (islands) within 4 seconds.
CAUSE
Human Error lead to Incorrect setting of relay at Niagara generator leading to line
tripping
Line overloading on rest of four 230KV line leading to their outage..
Earlier no study was done on Reliability of Interconnected system
LESSON LEARNT
Planning for Unexpected Events.
Commissioning of NERC,NYPP,NPCC to develop industry standards for equipment
testing and reserve generation capacity, as well as preventative measures
governing interconnection and reliability .
Introduction of SCADA/EMS And Auto-Reclosure of CB.

4. NORTH EAST BLACKOUT 1965

5. SOUTHERN BRAZIL BLACKOUT 1999
THE EVENT
Bus fault at the 440 kV Bus bar of Bauru substation due to Lightening .Due to
Failure of Bus-Bar protection remote transmission line protection systems were
activated.
Six 440 kV circuits were tripped which initiated a process of oscillation that ended
with the cascading shutdown and loss of 2300 MW of Generation.
500 kV lines in the Southern system tripped, activating the SPS in the region which
resulted in the HVDC link loss due to voltage collapse in sao-paulo area.
In the same manner, the North/South interconnection was tripped by its out-of-
step protection. The total interrupted load reached 25,000 MW.
LESSON LEARNT
Modifications in the physical arrangements of many EHV substations as well as in
the protection and control systems.
Greater detailing in maintenance planning to avoid exposure to the higher risks of
blackouts.
Improvement in the information systems in view of the new environment of the
electric industry as a whole.
Investment to modernize the operation control centers.
Better SPS to cope with multiple contingency analysis process.

6. NORTHEAST BLACKOUT 2003
CAUSE
Inadequate Situational Awareness of First Energy ‘s System.
Lack of Investments into the Grids (high Cost-Pressure for the Asset-Owners due to
Deregulation), leading to Bottlenecks in Transmission
Lack of Communication among the Operators
Need for more Regulatory Works (Rules, Grid Code etc.) for the Operation of
Transmission Systems and Power Plants in Case of Cascading Events.
Weak Points in System Protection, Energy and Demand Side Management - EMS,
DSM
LESSON LEARNT
Make reliability standards mandatory and enforceable, with penalties for
noncompliance
Develop a regulator-approved mechanism for funding NERC and the regional
reliability councils, to ensure their independence from the parties they oversee
For More Reliable Grid Operation PMU and WAMPAC was introduced .

7. NORTHEAST BLACKOUT 2003

8. ITALY BLACKOUT 2003
EVENTS
Trip of the Swiss 380 kV line Mettlen-Lavorgo (also called the “Lukmanier” line) at
03:01 caused by tree flashover.
Load was reduced on the overloaded Sils-Soazza line but that also tripped after a
tree flashover.
Created overloads on the remaining lines in the area became intolerable and
almost simultaneous and automatic trip of the remaining interconnectors towards
Italy occurred
The Italian system was isolated from the European network about 12 seconds after
the loss of the line Sils-Soazza.
LESSON LEARNT
Counter measures must be identified and prepared at each moment and for each
single incident.
ROW Maintenance practice
Operator training for emergency procedures.
System should withstand after loss of N-1 security.

9. JAVA-BALI BLACKOUT 2005
CAUSE
A transmission line between Cilegon and Saguling lead to cascading failure.
two units of the Paiton plant in East Java and six units of the Suralaya plant in West
Java
Loss of 2300 MW of generation that is roughly half of the supply.
Deficit of Power due to Low Generation
LESSON LEARNT
Adequate Generation to meet the needs
Adequate Transmission line to withdraw power if N-1 Security fails.
Configuring the Renewable Energy with the grid

10. BRAZIL AND PARAGUAY BLACKOUT 2009
CAUSE
Tripping of all the three lines of 765 kV at Itaipu dam due to Phase to ground fault
due to heavy rain and strong wind.
Loss of 5600MW at Itaipu Generation Plant tripped due to load rejection.
Cascade tripping of remaining lines in the South-Southeast Brazil which caused
additional load rejection of 2,950Mw
Then HVDC system tripped causing a total interruption of Approximately
24,500Mw
LESSON LEARNT
Transmission system equipment should be rated to consider severe environmental
conditions that could occur.
Maintenance of infrastructure is critical to prevent or minimize the effect of
outages
Need to enhance it’s transmission system to help prevent cascading outages to
re-route the power in case of tripping of Lines.

11. BRAZIL AND PARAGUAY BLACKOUT 2009

12. THANK YOU