Power Grid Distress: We should all be extremely concerned about our power grid problems

BY STEVEN KASZAB

We live very busy lives with the added crisis of the pandemic and all it entails shaping our days, our employment, social and family interactions. We are realizing that most of us have taken much for granted, such as finding food on the shelves in our local grocery stores, being able to tank up at the gas station and buy necessary items whenever we wish. The pandemic and the protests that are happening throughout Canada have weakened our logistics capabilities, and our ability to provide much needed products and services to a wanting nation.

Do you ever think about our power grids, the systems that provide electricity when needed? We have taken for granted that when we switch on a light, electronic device or even go to fill up with gas that it will happen every time. Well think again. The last couple of years have shown that many large cities throughout North America, whose dependence upon their power grids for all things electrical, are in peril.

America’s electric grid is antiquated and often managed by private corporations unwilling to invest in new equipment, or new technology. They often rely upon a  “Band-Aid” and wait and see approach. Remember the catastrophe that happened in the middle of a Texas winter. A confluence of extreme weather and systemic weaknesses resulted in much of Texas falling into an extreme cold front that did not pass quickly.

Many natural gas facilities (the largest source of electricity in Texas) were inadequately winterized and began to fail. The unexpected cold forced many Texans to heat their homes longer, thereby increasing demand. The disparity between demand and supply overwhelmed the system. To restore equilibrium ERCOT ordered “load shed”, or intentional blackouts for large sections of the state

By the way, the Texas Legislature has not yet rectified the problems that caused this chaos. Winterization of the system seems to not fall into their priority listings.

North America’s culture rests upon a lifeline of electric wires. These power grids are constantly challenged by natural and human elements. We should all be extremely concerned about our power grid problems:

• The age of our power grids
• Increased blackouts from power grid failure
• The war on electricity (creating electricity using natural gas and coal are frowned upon)
• Possibility of cyber warfare. Every superpower has a cyber warfare division, and is capable of attacking their opponents power grid systems
• The use of an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) can fry our electric systems

National terrorists and others can use either attacks to bring our systems down temporarily or permanently. Using such attacks will be an attack upon our society’s management. Imagine no electricity anywhere for a few days, weeks or months? Yes this can happen. Have our governments carried out needed processes to protect us from these acts of war?

Can North Americans (Canada/Mexico/USA) rely upon the majority holders and managers of our various power grids? Can private firms spend the needed revenue to replace, repair and protect these essential services, or are our governments the more likely reliable managers of power grids?

As we have seen in the USA government regulations can be enacted, but will private firms carry out these orders? Private firms rely upon profitability, and not necessarily public service. Our power grids are in fact truly essential to our nation’s stability and protection of our populations. Should our power grids come under the management of the military? In the US the maintenance and repair of dams fall under the engineers of the Marine Corp. These people care only about the task, and not profitability at any cost.

The Caribbean has huge challenges before it, having an antiquated power grid that seems to need repair each time a hurricane happens by. The question is do Caribbean islands have the necessary funds to build a system that is protected from Mother Nature?

Canada’s power grids are also old, but due to the challenges placed upon it by Canada’s weather, repairs and replacement of the system are coming along slowly. Protecting Canada’s power grids has fallen upon the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and The RCMP.

It is time for the government to harden our systems against cyber/EPM attacks with a consistent goal.