Power Grid Fails in India, 370 Million without Power

[miked2345]

Recently, there was an article on Drudge about the US's diminishing electric generation capacity as coal fired plants start to close. When will we start expecting rolling blackouts?

Considering that the coal fired plants are shutting down due to Oblama's regs, it would be great if it happened BEFORE the election...

[Irish-Tech]

ive seen pictures of people having power lines running from the mains into their windows and no junction boxes etc. i always assumed that was just here and there and not a country wide problem in India. i do hope its as simple as infrastructure problem and not a symptom of a bigger problem that we are not being told about. (zombies?)

[qrprat77]

Yesterday's blackout lasted 12 hours.
But Wait! There's more!
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...IME=2012-07-30

-08-12-48
NEW DELHI (AP) -- India's energy crisis cascaded over half the country Tuesday when three of its regional grids collapsed, leaving 620 million people without government-supplied electricity for several hours in, by far, the world's biggest-ever blackout.
Hundreds of trains stalled across the country and traffic lights went out, causing widespread traffic jams in New Delhi. Electric crematoria stopped operating, some with bodies half burnt, power officials said. Emergency workers rushed generators to coal mines to rescue miners trapped underground.

power was restored in part of the grid, but then failed again it looks like. Also appears to still be out.

[qrprat77]

Boy I thought I was a jerk...
:)
Anywho back to DISCUSSING THE ISSUE!
I'd like to take a minute to talk about mindset, that tricky subject that nobody really understands.
Question:
why was Katrina so horrible, and 3 hurricanes hitting the same place in 1 season not nearly so?
personal disaster scale and mindset!
I know folks in Central FL who were without power for over a month after Charley, just in time to get the power knocked out by the other two.
Florida expects hurricanes.
some folks are dumb about it, panic buying hours before the storm hits, or getting themselves all kinda liquored up playing "hunker down".
By and large though, people understand what they have to do to minimize the destruction on their own personal level. There was an expectation "Hurricanes will happen, I better not be in place XYZ when it does".
This didn't exist on as wide a scale in New Orleans.
Same thing will happen with the grid here. We are in New Orleans.
We don't think this will happen here.
How long does it take for "window shopping" to occur in New York City every time they get a blackout?
12 hours?
In India, they were all "Meh, happens all the time" and carried on.
Any final tally on how long India's grid was down?

[WiseOwl]

Worst part was everyone here couldnt get their PCs, company orders or credit card issues fixed LOL

Ahahahahahahaha

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Worst part was everyone here couldnt get their PCs, company orders or credit card issues fixed LOL

[Irish-Tech]

I would never wish for the decline of society. That said, I really wouldn't mind if every Sunday of the winters down south and the summers up north, they just turned the power off for a few hours in the evening. I think it would be a good thing in many ways.

While i think people should unplug from the TV, computer, phones and all thing electronic for a while and actually meet the neighbors i don't want to force it. We have to hold on to every freedom we have left in this world.

[rice paddy daddy]

I would never wish for the decline of society. That said, I really wouldn't mind if every Sunday of the winters down south and the summers up north, they just turned the power off for a few hours in the evening. I think it would be a good thing in many ways.

Sounds like the old communist eastern europe. I'd like to think we are a little more advanced than that.

Granted it's India, but:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_INDIA_POWER_OUTAGE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-07-30-08-12-48

I highlighted the last part because it's important to understand the psychology of a blackout event. If it's expected, it can be dealt with.
Recently, there was an article on Drudge about the US's diminishing electric generation capacity as coal fired plants start to close.
When will we start expecting rolling blackouts?

I would never wish for the decline of society. That said, I really wouldn't mind if every Sunday of the winters down south and the summers up north, they just turned the power off for a few hours in the evening. I think it would be a good thing in many ways.

[Spock]

I'm surprised they have electricity to 370 million

[qrprat77]

Granted it's India, but:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_INDIA_POWER_OUTAGE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-07-30-08-12-48

NEW DELHI (AP) -- Northern India's power grid crashed Monday, halting trains, forcing hospitals and airports onto backup power and providing a dark reminder of the nation's inability to feed a growing hunger for energy as it strives to become an economic power.
While the midsummer outage was unique in its reach - it hit 370 million people, more than the population of the United States and Canada combined - its impact was softened by Indians' familiarity with almost daily blackouts of varying duration.

I highlighted the last part because it's important to understand the psychology of a blackout event. If it's expected, it can be dealt with.
Recently, there was an article on Drudge about the US's diminishing electric generation capacity as coal fired plants start to close.
When will we start expecting rolling blackouts?