ENERGY - Most Powerful Blackouts in History

Here's an interesting look at an issue that can cause a lot of chaos. Notably, the increasing use and development of microgrids, which are a perfect fit with decentralized energy sources such as wind and solar, is one key solution to blackouts, as is the development of "smarter" grids.

Blackout via Justin in SD (some rights reserved)

Blackouts can affect millions of people. They can last for days or even weeks, causing chaos throughout cities and entire regions. They often occur following natural disasters, and can add to the damage caused by the original disaster.
Here is a look at some of the most powerful blackouts in history to learn from:

East Coast United States July 2012

This was the largest non-hurricane blackout in history for the United States. Caused by several violent storms, four states and the District of Columbia were affected. Call centres were out of commission for emergencies and petrol (gas) stations were closed down.
The government requested that people conserve water due to sewage plants being out of operation. To make things even worse, many people had to suffer through a heatwave that followed the storms with no air conditioning. [Editor's note: one of our writers was in that boat! Not fun.]

India Blackout July 2012

July was a bad month for India as the country experienced its worst blackout in over a decade. The outdated electrical grid was blown due to the large number of people using air conditioners and other electrical appliances.
The Metro shut down for several hours and people were forced to deal with the oppressive heat as the sun came up. It was restored quickly but a second outage soon followed and this was also widespread.

East United States October 2012

The East Coast of the United States got hit with a second outage, this time in New York and other areas that were affected by Hurricane Sandy. Millions were without power for days; over 250,000 homes were affected in New York City alone. For the entire state, over one million were without power, while 14 states had some outage of power from the storm.
The state least affected was North Carolina, with 6,600 homes without power. Some homes were still without power two weeks after the storm, right when a large snowstorm hit the area, further complicating clean-up operations.

Brazil/Paraguay 2009

This blackout affected almost all of Brazil and practically the entire country of Paraguay. Passengers on metro trains were stranded and there were numerous car accidents due to the lack of street lighting.
Buses had a difficult time handling the extra passengers and many people were left with no way to get home. Even though the blackout only lasted a few hours, over 60 million people were affected. Storms were responsible for the outage.

Conclusion

Blackouts can last from a few hours to over a week, depending on the cause and the infrastructure of the nation in question. Regardless of how long they last, the resulting damage can be widespread and severe. For more information on how to cope with a blackout by using emergency power, visit Mather and Stuart.

http://cleantechnica.com/2012/11/26/most-powerful-blackouts-in-history/