Grid much stronger 5 years after blackout

PRINCETON, N.J., Aug. 14 (UPI) -- The organization that oversees the U.S. power grid says significant changes in its operation have been made in the five years since the big 2003 blackout.

According to Rick Sergel, president and CEO of the North American Electric Reliability Corp., or NERC, the transmission system in the United States and Canada is now better able to prevent a repeat of the 2003 blackout that cut power to around 50 million people in the U.S. Northeast and southeastern Canada.

"NERC has worked to fundamentally change the situation that allowed this catastrophic event to occur," Sergel said in a written statement Thursday. "As a result of these efforts, I can confidently say that the events that led to the 2003 blackout are now much less likely to recur."

Sergel said the North American grid now has more reliability standards in place as well as better operator training, more-sophisticated monitoring and improved relays on the power lines in order to better control the flow of high-voltage power.

In addition, power companies are being more aggressive in vegetation control, particularly keeping trees trimmed on order to prevent blowing or falling branches from breaking wires. Trees are blamed for contacting four separate power lines in Ohio five years ago and triggering a cascading blackout that ran all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.