Major accidents on electric power systems

Energy is the blood and flesh of modern civilization. If there is no it, then life stops. Even the slightest malfunctions in power plants can lead to grave consequences, and even major accidents on electric power systems are akin to the end of the world, albeit local.

Year 2012

This time was rich in such incidents. November of that year was especially memorable for the inhabitants of Munich. The metro, traffic lights did not work, almost all areas of the city were de-energized. Hospitals switched to backup generators, data centers suffered multi-million losses. The scale of the accident was such that even the suburbs of Munich were de-energized. The "collapse" of the energy networks was the largest in 20 years.

Then, in November, something similar happened in Buenos Aires. The main thoroughfares of the city were damaged. Everything developed in a similar way: Metro trains did not work, traffic lights did not work.

American storms

But the richest in the event was October of the same year, when the United States was hit by "Sandy." More than eight million people ended up without electricity, affecting even Canada's trips. Presented a surprise and a hurricane "Nosister", which, erupting in early November, again paralyzed the restoration work.

Few people drew attention to this, but in September 2012, reports of a major accident on Cuba's electric power systems slipped, making the island of Liberty completely free ... from electricity. A month was required to completely eliminate all the consequences.

Something similar happened in the same September and in Tbilisi. But everything went much easier, because only some areas of the city were left without light. Where all was worse in the beginning of August in India, which almost completely remained without energy for several days.

2011

What accidents on the electricity and utility systems occurred at this time? For residents of the US and Mexico, the summer of 2011, when about 10 million people were sitting as a result of fan outages without light, it was really "hot." The reason is the automatic operation of a large American nuclear power plant. Soon it turned out that the human factor was to blame. The employee who conducted scheduled maintenance of the systems did not exit the diagnostic mode, as a result of which the automatic shutdown was triggered.

In general, accidents in the power systems (examples we have already described in the US) are an excellent test of the availability of reserve supply options, as well as the ability of the services to respond to an emergency.

In February of the same year, several power lines broke down in Barnaul. A little more than 100 thousand people left without light. Especially hard was the hospital, which had to use all the available backup sources of electricity. It is not necessary to say how dangerous such accidents are in the electric power life-support systems.

Fukushima

Separate lines deserve this Japanese nuclear power plant, radioactive water from the cellars of which is still peacefully flowing into the Pacific Ocean. The original reason is an earthquake of nine points, which caused a powerful tsunami. The cooling system went out of order, and the backup generators ... were removed six months before and taken out for repair. Due to the rapid increase in temperature, the foundation of the nuclear power plant was soon melted. In the buildings of the power units at that time, hydrogen was accumulated, so the inhabitants of the suburbs soon heard two deafening explosions.

Soon it turned out that the natural element only pushed the inevitable. Reports surfaced in 2008, in which the IAEA commission strongly recommended the elimination of multiple violations. The removal of all reserve generators is a blatant negligence, as a result of which millions of cubic meters of radioactive water fell into the Pacific Ocean. The consequences of this catastrophe, according to GRINPIS, humanity has not yet realized. Until now, the area around the nuclear power plant remains very dangerous for humans.

2010

In December of that year, without energy, there was almost the whole of Rio de Janeiro. Soon it turned out that the shutdown was due to a severe short circuit on the main city highways, which was caused by inaccurate renovations. Several areas were left without light in the city, the metro did not work completely. Supply current was able to recover in a few hours.

Also in August, St. Petersburg and several districts of the Leningrad Region were de-energized due to accidents at two substations. More precisely, at first the accident occurred on one, and the second just could not withstand the increased load, since everything happened later in the evening. In the suburbs, electric trains stopped, all important social facilities were automatically transferred to backup power supplies. You have probably noticed that accidents on electric power systems (the examples in the world this is repeatedly proved) can most easily be localized where there is a sufficient number of duplicating networks and generating capacities.

Terrorist Attack in Indonesia

In July, Indonesian Jakarta also remained without light because of a powerful explosion at the thermal power station. Most likely, it was a terrorist act. Martial law was introduced. Perhaps, the unknown wanted to paralyze the work of the local airport, but the latter, shortly before this accident, acquired reliable backup sources of energy, so that the work did not stop.

In April, there were reports of a serious accident at the electric power systems of the Nevinnomysskaya GRES. As a result, the capacity of about 286.85 megawatts was instantly lost, which is why most of the North Caucasus remained without light. Generally, accidents on electric power systems and hydrodynamic accidents are not only interconnected (HPPs, GRES), but also lead to the largest losses. The reason is simple - one city CHP plant can produce 10-30 megawatts, which does not compare with the amount of energy produced by large hydroelectric power plants.

2009

Before the New Year, many settlements of Belarus were completely de-energized due to a heavy snowfall, as a result of which many power lines were simply torn. To the credit of the power engineers, they coped with this misfortune quite quickly, especially as the weather at that time had already improved. The same thing happened at the same time in Ukraine, where many areas of central regions of the country remained without light.

Strangely enough, but the accident on the electric power systems in Russia was avoided. However, there is nothing strange in this, since our energy specialists showed themselves on the best side, without leaving the affected facilities for days and shifting thousands of meters of wires anew.

Even in distant France the end of December was not set up because of the whole cascade of accidents at the substations, as a result of which the famous Côte d'Azur plunged into darkness. It turned out that the distribution station in Tavel simply could not stand the colossal overload caused by the massive influx of holidaymakers wishing to meet here on Christmas Day.

In November 2009, Rio de Janeiro, as well as São Paulo, suffered. At least ten thousand people lost their lives in Brazil. It turned out that the largest HPP "Parana" completely rose due to a serious accident in the engine room. However, after only 2.5 hours the problem was fully managed.

The Sayan tragedy

August 17, 2009 - a black day in the newest history of our country. Then there was a catastrophe at the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP. During the repair of the units, the locks could not stand the colossal pressure of the water, as a result of which it almost immediately flooded several computer rooms. Because of this accident on the electric power systems in the RF, safety requirements were radically revised.

Of the ten turbines, nine were completely destroyed. Because of this accident, many cities in Siberia were left without light for several hours, and work was started at the largest metallurgical enterprises. It is believed that then killed 75 people, and another 13 were seriously injured.

2008

Perhaps, the year 2008 was the most "poor" one for the accident on electric power systems. That time was remembered only by fanning off the energy in the heart of Washington. About 11 thousand people were without light, traffic lights were not working in the entire city. It turned out that because of the accident at the gas distribution station, the local CHP remained without fuel. Victims were not, the main social and governmental institutions were transferred to reserve power supplies.

2007

In October, along the coast of the Australian state of Queensland, a storm was so violent that many kilometers of power lines seemed to be ragged. No light left at least 25 thousand houses. What else were the accidents at the electric power systems in the world?

In July of the same year, a major accident at a substation in Barcelona caused the plunge of several regions of Spain into the gloom. For unknown reasons, on one of the central highways, the transmission resistance increased sharply, resulting in a rapid fire. Not a single institution operated in the city itself, even hospitals remained without light.

In February, about 120,000 people in Tajikistan were also completely deprived of access to energy. It was caused by an accident on the famous high-mountainous HPP "Pamir-1". The reason was ridiculous: because of the oversight of local peasants, a large irrigation canal changed the channel a little, as a result of which water quickly flooded several machine rooms. Fortunately, the consequences were quickly eliminated.

In January, almost without light, Bucharest remained. The central regions were completely de-energized. For a whole hour, not one thousand people were trapped in the subway, other public transport stopped. All this happened because of malfunctions at the central distribution stations. As a result of this accident on the electric power systems (examples of similar situations we already cited) Hungarians had to almost completely modernize all the main electric mains of the city and the country as a whole.

2005

In May this year, Moscow, Moscow region, as well as the Tula region and several other regions received electricity according to "hungry" norms. It happened as a result of the accident at the station "Chagino". Especially seriously, the consequences of this accident affected the work of local telecommunications networks and virtually all media. Phones, including cellular ones, did not work, data centers, Internet providers could not cope. Because of this accident, on electric power systems (examples have already been in Russia), increased attention has finally been paid to backup nodes and backup systems.

At least four million people were affected. About 20 thousand citizens were blocked in the Moscow metro, another 1,5 thousand were stuck in elevators. It is believed that the total damage exceeded two billion rubles.

Thus, accidents on electric power systems, examples of which we have given, are a very expensive "pleasure", often due not only to money, but also to the lives of people.