Journal of Critical Infrastructure Policy
power outages occur on a daily basis across the country , but unless these events cascade further , it is the larger scale electric outages that have significant impact .
Power failures can have both financial and economic impacts on electricity providers , government , organizations , businesses , and community operations . The ability to maintain an efficient and protected electrical power grid is essential to support critical infrastructure and key resources . A national electric grid with many aging , legacy components has raised questions regarding whether or not substantial improvement investments are necessary and , if so , what the priorities should be . Unless properly configured , growing demand on electricity supplies from renewable , intermittent energy sources like wind and solar power can increase grid instability . It is widely anticipated that extreme weather events driven by climate change will heighten the risk of future grid impairment .
Significant electrical power outages , both long- and short-term , are an area of concern for not only energy producers and operators , but also consumers , other critical infrastructure systems , legislators , policy analysts , and researchers . Overall , the U . S . grid has been stable , and Americans are used to the provision of electricity without extended blackouts . The World Bank has reported that the U . S . has ranked well in electric system quality compared to other countries ( World Bank 2019 ).
In the aftermath of the widespread 2003 electricity blackout that cascaded across the northeast and Midwest U . S . and parts of Canada , market forces and government entities increased the impetus for electric power reform . This included calls for enhanced , mandatory electricity reliability standards . In an attempt to reduce the likelihood of future large-scale disruptions , U . S . and Canadian government energy authorities issued recommendations to help prevent further incidents of this type .
The geographic scale of large-scale power outages can transcend county , city , region , state , and / or national boundaries ( U . S . Department of Homeland Security 2017 ). Based on the interdependence of critical infrastructure sectors and their need for electricity , a sustained grid failure would significantly weaken the nation ’ s homeland security posture . When they do occur , power outages can have considerable economic impact . Costs attributable to outages fluctuate significantly , but are highest when major storms hit .
Our paper makes two significant contributions . First , we use a publicly available U . S . Department of Energy ( DOE ) dataset to present a 20-year time series of reported power outages ( January 2000 through June 2020 ). These data are collected and organized by the DOE Office of Electricity ( OE ) using its “ Electric Emergency Incident and Disturbance Report .” The data include the type of event , geographical location , average annual and monthly frequency of events , characteristics of power loss , average number of customers affected , and duration of outages .
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