Newswise — While some analysts are already blaming an outdated energy infrastructure for causing Thursday's massive blackout in the Northeast, an Ohio State University expert said it is too early to blame the power failure on an aging electrical grid.
"More and better infrastructure might be necessary, but it is not an absolute solution to preventing future blackouts," said Robert Burns, senior research specialist at Ohio State's National Regulatory Research Institute and an expert on the electric industry.
Burns disagrees with those who say the entire power grid needs to be replaced.
"While there definitely are some switches that aren't automated enough, and communication or protection devices that need to be updated," he said, "much of the transmission system is still sound."
Burns said it is too early to say that an updated infrastructure alone would have even prevented the blackout.
"At this point, it could have been some human error that led to a chain of events that resulted in the blackout," he said. "We just don't know.
"There are good reasons to improve the energy infrastructure. But it is not a cure-all that will prevent all future blackouts," according to Burns.
The NRRI is an independent institute that provides research and assistance to the nation's state public utility commissions. It was established at Ohio State in 1976 by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.
Burns has more than twenty-three years of public utility and natural resource experience at Ohio State. He has been with the NRRI's Electric and Gas Research Division since 1980. At the NRRI, Burns has written over fifty major reports, over eighty articles and papers, and has made over one hundred-and-fifty presentations on diverse regulatory topics mostly concerning electric and gas public utility policy. He is currently working on electric utility restructuring issues, including reliability and quality of power service.
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