Have you heard about the Pacific Gas & Electric electrical substation in California that was shot up like a junkie getting a fix? Here is an excerpt; Was a sniper attack on a central California electrical substation last year the work of terrorists? Thats the theory being examined by energy bosses who had to deal with the aftermath of the incident, which saw telephone cables cut and 17 transformers knocked out. Electric officials battled to keep the lights on after the 52-minute assault on the Pacific Gas & Electrics Metcalf transmission substation in San Jose on April 16, 2013. Jon Wellinghoff, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chairman at the time, told the Wall Street Journal it was the most significant incident of domestic terrorism involving the U.S. power grid ever occurred. So my questions are these; 1. I am not a sniper. My thinking leads me to think a sniper would want to expend as few rounds as possible while inflicting the most damage. (think snipers shooting high ranking officers) So if not a sniper then who? 2. The substation was a transmission substation. Now if you dont know, those are designed to relay high voltages long distances. They arent for keeping the lights in your house on. (more on this in a few) So who knows about this type of substation and its purpose? 3. The fiber optic cabling was knowingly damaged, cutting off communications and signaling. Manhole covers were removed to gain access Who knows about these fiber optic cables? 4. Who had a vendetta or a grudge if you will against PG&E? 5. 17 of the 20 transformers were damaged. Cost to repair was in the millions of dollars. Why stop at 17? Why not shoot them all? 6. No fingerprints were found on the shell casings and the shooting positions were predetermined. Careful or calculated? Distribution substations are used to distribute power to the home or business. Transmission lines feed these substations and the voltage is stepped down. Transmission substations are used to carry electricity long distances and to send electricity to other utilities, selling at a profit. These normally have 69KV and above. 69,000 Volts. Think about that a sec. If this was a case of thieves after copper cabling, do you think they would risk certain death for the wiring? Well, I have seen the aftermath when they do and its not pretty. Thats not what this was. Terrorism? Yep. Domestic or outsiders? Unknown. Would a complete substation outage like this have affected you? Probably not directly or immediately. However, you could have seen rolling brownouts as the utility tried to keep the lights on for everyone. Dont have PG&E as your electric company? You may not have ever heard about it... The way the modern power grid is designed, a single failure such as this should not have impact outside the local area. Anyone remember the big blackout in the Northeast a few years ago? A single distribution substation had a single problem. Millions of people lost power for days. The grid has been enhanced at great cost to ensure this doesnt or cant happen again. Utilities are regularly inspected for compliance. Non-compliance results in fines of millions of dollars. So I think AQ had a test run. What about you? Thoughts, opinions? LT
Posted on: Fri, 07 Feb 2014 21:22:21 +0000
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