CTV News Archive Special: 2003 North American Blackout

Watch as Lloyd Robertson delivers the CTV News National Newscast from a darkened studio during the worst power failure in North American history 10 years ago. Since most of the residents impacted by the blackout did not have power, they will be viewing this newscast for the first time.
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[@internetuser-os5hw]

Flashback news is rather interesting.

[@T.v532]

Oh ya this is a message...

[@randicook15]

Not linked to terrorism. Lol oh how we were all still afraid and traumatized by Septembet 11th

[@concernednewfie]

So, started watching. One would think you could have at least edited the non blackout footage out. I mean 30 minutes time on home editing software.

[@CT-vm4gf]

Forget the power outage, how about those boulders.

[@thetruth8109]

hmm why play this now is the question

[@seansamuels7131]

Do the words "20th Anniversary" mean any thing to you? Please stop seeing demons in every single shadow.

[@user-zn9ht6mf6t]

Because it happened 20 years ago today 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@c-v-n3322]

I think cause they are planning another one. 😂😂

[@Goz969]

What do you mean?

[@ElectricBuckeye]

​@c-v-n3322 there was no planning. A lack of planning, certainly. It all started with something small and common, an alarm system meant to alert the grid coordinator of the line/load discrepancy got stuck in a comms loop. No one even knew for almost three hours. In that time, primary transmission lines started to draw too much current and sag into trees. While the alarm system was out, the lines were shutting down one-by-one. Power plant control rooms were calling into dispatch and telling them there was a major problem and their own units were vulnerable and starting to trip offline. Dispatch couldn't confirm it because they couldn't see it. Once the power surge hit the 138kV lines, it overloaded them to over 100% of capacity and protective relays shut down more transmission lines. Basically, think of it like kinking a hose to stop the water, then releasing it. All that energy was looking for any path to travel in. Once it ran through Cleveland, Detroit, and Toronto, it ran counter-clockwise and took out every major line around the Great Lakes, and a big part of the NE. The only reason other parts of the grid were spared is because many plants started taking themselves either offline, or disconnecting from the grid. The scary part is that most large-scale generation plants since then have been shut down due to cost effectiveness because of epa regulations. We are more and more vulnerable. We don't store electricity on the grid. What we generate and what is used has to run in sync. So the load is always changing and fluctuating. Any small blip can snowball very quick.