IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2014 - 62

The importance of improved forecasting,
emergency preparedness strategies, and grid safety positioning
strategies should be recognized.

Major North American Events: Impacts,
Aftermath, and Lessons Learned

microgrids and energy storage. implicit in such plans is the need
to ensure uninterrupted power to critical sites such as oil and gas
refineries, water-treatment plants, and telecommunication networks, as well as gasoline stations, hospitals, and pharmacies.
some of the U.s's leaders seem receptive to such approaches.

Superstorm Sandy, October 2012

The 2013 North American Ice Storm

superstorm sandy made landfall in the continental United
states on the evening of 29 october 2012, at which time it
was officially classified as a posttropical cyclone. By the
end, sandy's multiple weather systems had affected 24 states
in the most densely populated region of the country, from
florida to Maine and reaching as far west as Michigan and
wisconsin. the estimated damage from sandy in the United
states was put at Us$65 billion.
due to sandy, entire neighborhoods in coastal areas were
severely damaged, ground transportation was disrupted for
days, and a quarter of the cellphone sites in ten states went
down. sandy's wrath hit the electricity grid hard: more than
8.5 million households and businesses experienced power outages, which in some cases lasted for weeks. wastewater treatment plants lost power, sending billions of gallons of raw and
partially treated sewage into the region's waterways. in new
York city, the east river overflowed its banks, flooding large
sections of Lower Manhattan. Battery Park had a water surge
of 13.88 ft. sandy's storm surge sent water sloshing into many
underground substations in new York city, leading to widespread outages. for the grid, flooding is considered the worst
of extreme weather events because of the long-term damage
that floodwater can do to power substations and underground
electrical systems. restoring a flooded substation takes much
longer than restoring a downed power line that's been damaged by ice or wind because you have to deal with the large
amounts of water, rust, and mud left trapped in the structure.
sandy made it painfully clear how fragile the aging U.s.
power system infrastructure is. it also highlighted the fact that
hardening the grid to withstand all extreme weather is impossible and unaffordable. sandy reinforced the notion that what
is needed is a holistic approach based on grid resiliency. resiliency measures aren't intended to prevent damage from extreme
weather; rather, they minimize the impact of the resulting damage by enabling electric facilities to continue operating and
restore service quickly when outages occur. such an approach
would include traditional tactics, such as upgrading power poles
and trimming trees near power lines. But it also encompasses
newer approaches that let operators quickly reconfigure the
system when portions of the grid go down, such as the use of

this was a severe ice storm that struck the central and eastern portions of canada and the northeastern United states
from 20 to 23 december 2013. one of the hardest-hit areas
was southern and eastern ontario, including the city of
toronto. this ice storm marked the most severe storm of its
kind in ontario since the 1998 ice storm that affected eastern ontario and southern Quebec.

the ieee Power & energy society energy development and
Power generation committee, whose chair is tom Baumann.

ieee power & energy magazine

Preparations

in toronto, utility workers prepared for possible downed power
lines and officials warned residents to expect power outages.
Impacts

hydro one, which serves mostly rural areas of ontario, reported
more than 130,000 power outages at the height of the storm.
thousands of customers remained without power well after
christmas day. toronto, canada's largest city, was among the
areas hardest hit by the ice storm. the first wave of freezing
rain began on 20 december; it coated the city in a significant
but manageable amount of ice. the second and more powerful wave of rain struck the city in early morning hours of 22
december. Utility poles and tree branches collapsed under the
enormous weight of the thick ice accumulation. at the height of
the storm, more than 300,000 toronto hydro customers were
without power or heat. the city of toronto simultaneously
opened and operated 13 community reception centers and 13
police facility community warming centers, providing temporary sleeping accommodations, food, water, hygiene kits, and
other resources. the warming centers were open around the
clock, offering those who lost their power a warm place to sleep
and eat until their power was restored. By christmas eve, four
days after the storm, there were still 69,800 customers without
power across the city. approximately 1,000 people spent christmas eve in the warming centers. on 29 december 2013, one
week after the storm, hydro one diverted its crews to assist
toronto hydro with restoration efforts to the more than 6,000
people that still remained without power in the city. in addition to hydro one, crews were called in from ottawa, windsor,
Michigan, and as far away as Manitoba to help restore power
to the city by 1 January. west of toronto, crews were called in
september/october 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2014