Recent power outages and reliability initiatives

During the summer of 1999, the United States suffered an unprecedented series of power disturbances and outages occurring at the bulk transmission and distribution levels of the electricity grid. Largely the result of severe heat waves, these power outages not only caused substantial economic damage to residential, commercial, and industrial customers, but also exacerbated the health impacts of the hot weather. The Secretary of Energy created the Power Outage Study Team (POST) to examine the underlying causes of these power disturbances, and recommend appropriate actions the federal government could take to mitigate and prevent such events in the future. The Team completed its initial investigation in January 2000, and released its final findings and recommendations two months later. This paper offers a brief overview and summary of the POST investigation, findings, and recommendations, and describes Department of Energy (DOE) initiatives in response to these recommendations.