Current differential based wide area protection (WAP) has recently been proposed as a technique to increase the reliability of protection systems. It increases system stability and can prevent large contingencies such as cascading outages and blackouts. This paper describes how power differential protection (PDP) can be used within a WAP and shows that the algorithm operates correctly for a...

Alcohol-related amnesia—alcohol blackout—is a common claim of criminal defendants. The generally held belief is that during an alcohol blackout, other cognitive functioning is severely impaired or absent. The presentation of alcohol blackout as scientific evidence in court requires that the science meets legal reliability standards (Frye, FRE702/Daubert). To determine whether “alcohol blackout”...

The restoration process of the bulk-power transmission system following a partial or a total blackout, have two main issues during a restoration, those are voltage control and frequency control. Special attention is therefore given to the behaviour of network parameters, control equipments as they affect the voltage and frequency regulation during the restoration process. During restoration due...

Do transitory economic shocks affect neonatal outcomes? I show that an unexpected, monthlong blackout in Tanzania caused a sharp but temporary drop in work hours for workers in electricity-dependent jobs. Using records from a maternity ward, I document a reduction in birth weights for children exposed in utero to the blackout, and an increase in the probability of low birth weight. The reductio...

On September 8, 2011, the Great San Diego/Southwest Blackout occurred affecting approximately 5 million people. This paper explores the availability and use of social media as a crisis response tool following such a crisis event. Contrary to expectations, Internet and the cell phone system had less than the expected availability and as a result, users had a difficult time using social media to ...

In order to study the complex global dynamics of a series of blackouts in power transmission systems a dynamical model of such a system has been developed. This model includes a simple representation of the dynamical evolution by incorporating the growth of power demand, the engineering response to system failures, and the upgrade of generator capacity. Two types of blackouts have been identifi...

A program may have a low error rate but, at the same time, require little of the student and teach him little. A measure to supplement error rate in evaluating a program has recently been developed. This measure, called the blackout ratio, is the percentage of material that may be deleted without increasing the error rate. In high blackout-ratio programs, obtaining a correct answer is contingen...

It is argued that the Independent Sgstem Operator (ISO) should be able to adjust the securitg and dependability of the protection sgstem in response to the system and market conditions. However, the existing protection philosophy’s multiple, overlapping schemes tend to favor individual elements over the secun”t~ of the wide-area. We revisit the rare-probability, hidden failures embedded within ...