The Venezuelan government, facing the fallout of a massive blackout that shut down almost ¾ of the country, is creating a security force with the sole purpose of protecting the electrical grid.
While major cities have had power restored many rural areas are still without power. Continue reading
Republicans in Congress are taking steps to protect the nation’s electrical grid in the event of a solar flare or terrorist nuclear attack.
The Secure High-voltage Infrastructure for Electricity from Lethal Damage Act would push the federal government to install surge protectors and other devices to protect the grid against attack. Continue reading
England is facing a double whammy of flooding and heavy snowfall that is disrupting travel and electrical services.
BBC forecasters say that up to 16 inches of snow could fall across the country along with gale force winds. The heavy snow could continue through the entire weekend complicating rescue efforts in flooded parts of the nation. Continue reading
Large parts of the upper Midwest are without power as a massive snowstorm dumps up to a foot of snow in some areas. The storm seems to not be weakening as it bears down on the east coast, putting cities like Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. in danger of outages.
Heavy, wet snow knocked out power across parts of Indiana that reported a significant increase in car accidents in places that received as little as two inches of the thick snow. Tippecanoe County, Indiana reported 25 accidents in the first 5 hours of the storm Tuesday. Continue reading
Angry residents of Bridgeport, Connecticut threw eggs at utility crews trying to restore electricity.
United Illuminating workers had to call police for protection after residents threw eggs and other objects putting the workers at risk. The workers reported that they were met with verbal abuse and when that didn’t stop them working, they were pelted with eggs and other objects. Continue reading
Tensions have reached boiling points at the few open gas stations in the northeastern U.S. resulting in State Police and National Guard being called out to protect them and keep the peace.
In New Jersey, the governor ordered State Police to be deployed to all gas stations along the NJ Turnpike and Garden State Parkway. Area residents said that they needed gasoline for generators because they had no electricity. Continue reading
Three nuclear power units are shut down amid water pump problems and downed power lines throughout the northeast have left over 8 million people without power in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.
The state of New Jersey, where the storm made landfall yesterday afternoon, has nearly 60% of the state without power. Continue reading
The UK could run out of energy generating capacity by 2015 according to a report from energy regulator Ofgem. The report blames the potential shortage on coal-fired power stations connected to European Union environmental regulations.
Britain’s Energy Secretary said that the government would be responding to the report before the end of 2012. Continue reading
Unlike Hurricane Katrina which rushed through New Orleans and Louisiana, the remnants of Hurricane Isaac have stalled sending over two feet of rain that has flooded the areas around New Orleans.
The upgraded levee system put in place after Hurricane Katrina spared the city itself of flooding but surrounding towns are under several feet of water. Continue reading
Over 600 million people are without power in India after three power grids completely collapsed a day after one of the three grids had individually failed.
The power failure is having wide-ranging impact beyond residents as business are closed and the transportation system has been paralyzed. Hundreds of trains are at a standstill. Hospitals are relying on backup generators. Continue reading