“Argentina’s Blackout and the Storm-Battered Future of the Grid” – Wired
The countrywide blackout in Argentina came after a period of heavy rains, a reminder that US the electric grid is also not ready for extreme weather events.
- Although the exact cause of the blackout is still being investigated, Argentina experienced heavy rains over the weekend and there is reason to believe that the inclement weather played a starring role in the largest blackout in recent history.
- Extreme weather events are a leading cause of blackouts around the world and the blackout in Argentina is a reminder that our electric grids aren’t ready to handle the increasing intensity of storms resulting from climate change.
- Although the United States isn’t likely to see a nationwide blackout like the one that hit Argentina, localized blackouts in the United States have increased in both frequency and duration in recent years.
- Modern electric grids are designed like a web, which helps isolate blackouts as much as possible.
- The economic cost of the blackout was estimated to be about $6 billion, and it contributed to the deaths of at least 11 people.
- Planning distribution networks to incorporate more smart microgrids and switches between local networks will make it easier to survive a blackout and restore power; building energy efficient buildings will reduce strain on the grid; moving equipment out of current and future flood zones will decrease blackout times; or simply building tougher electric poles can all contribute to decreasing outages in the future.
- So while America may not face a threat of large-scale blackout anytime soon, there is little doubt Americans will see increasing localized blackouts in the future.
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Author: Daniel Oberhaus