Well about now I guess it's not quite all that easy to make a power sub station secure. Some areas seem to have just about everything underground but hindsight is 20/20. Years ago all of this was unheard of, never in anyone's wildest dreams to attack a power substation. They just pretty much sat in isolated areas with some exceptions where we had densely populated areas. Making a substation secure is not quite an easy task. I doubt there is any quick fix and I have no easy answers. Those who have the ways and means can protect their own property from power loss with their own generators but that should not be necessary and what about those who don't have the ways and means.

Ron

 

I wonder just how many Iguana/squirrel events there are per year compared to someone shooting a substation. Most Iguana/squirrel events cause little damage other than a blown fuse or tripped breaker compared to a bullet piercing the oil coolant jacket and damaging the windings which likely causes a fire and further damage.

Hey Sam, about the third link down shows a video of a substation going up in flames. Note where a pressure valve opens and the oil comes out as a mist cloud. I think the video was shot by responders who figured let it burn. A good example of the mineral oil you mentioned. Some other interesting arcs and sparks in the link. This was a 138 KV substation and was is the operative word.

Ron

 

I wonder just how many Iguana/squirrel events there are per year compared to someone shooting a substation. Most Iguana/squirrel events cause little damage other than a blown fuse or tripped breaker compared to a bullet piercing the oil coolant jacket and damaging the windings which likely causes a fire and further damage.

According to a report I read from EPRI(?), someone shoots a transformer about once a week somewhere and that's been pretty consistent, on average, for a long time (decades, at least). As has been the case on a number of occasions, the media is blissfully ignorant of something, then it comes into their view for some reason, and then they jump on it and treat it as though it is something brand new and earth-shattering that has never happened before without doing any checking to see if it truly is something new.

So the industry has been dealing with this problem for a long time and is fully aware of the vulnerabilities to escalated and coordinated attacks. It's not an easy problem to solve, but they have been working on improvements for a long time on a number of fronts.

 

the media is blissfully ignorant of something, then it comes into their view for some reason, and then they jump on it

Yeah, funny how that happens - especially if it happens as an adjacent-location attack just days after an unusual FBI warning to watch for these types of attacks.

The FBI had warned of reports of threats to electricity infrastructure by people espousing racially or ethnically motivated extremist ideology “to create civil disorder and inspire further violence,” the agency said in a November 22 bulletin sent to private industry.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/08/us/power-outage-moore-county-investigation-thursday/index.html

Kind of like how new viruses are found all the time and the media only jumps on the story when governments start talking about pandemics and shutdowns.

 

Yeah, funny how that happens - especially if it happens as an adjacent-location attack just days after an unusual FBI warning to watch for these types of attacks.


https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/08/us/power-outage-moore-county-investigation-thursday/index.html

Kind of like how new viruses are found all the time and the media only jumps on the story when governments start talking about pandemics and shutdowns.

Unusual? The FBI and other law enforcement agencies have been releasing dire warnings like this for decades. Left or right, it doesn't matter.

https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/attacks-on-arkansas-power-grid

 

Unusual?

Yup, 1970 and then again in 2022.

 

Yup, 1970 and then again in 2022.

And in 2011. And in 2012. And in 2014. And in 2016. And in....

 

Yup, 1970 and then again in 2022.

This is trolling or complete ignorance.

 

Personally, I am more worried about the losing candidate for president claiming the election was stolen and rallying people to attack the capitol.

But we all know that could never happen.

 

And in 2011. And in 2012. And in 2014. And in 2016. And in....

I missed those, do you have links?

 

I missed those, do you have links?

Here's what about a minute with Google turned up. I'm betting you can do better.

There's some duplication and it's a bit hard to home in on prior attacks because the web is currently pretty saturated with coverage of the most recent North Carolina attack and, to a lesser degree, the attacks in the Pacific Northwest.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ut/pr/...ility-admits-he-used-rifle-fire-shots-cooling

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo...on-calif-power-station-raises-terrorism-fears

https://sgp.fas.org/crs/homesec/R43604.pdf

https://www.opb.org/article/2022/12...id-attacks-in-pacific-northwest-are-unsolved/

https://www.aol.com/news/another-north-carolina-power-substation-225234533.html

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article269658086.html

https://www.newsweek.com/physical-attacks-power-substations-multiple-states-1765225

https://spectrum.ieee.org/attack-on-nine-substations-could-take-down-us-grid

https://centraloregondaily.com/oregon-clackamas-substation-attack-bonneville-power/

I was hoping that I could run across the report (I think it was from EPRI) that categorized the frequency of different types of damages, both intentional and unintentional, to the power grid, but I didn't.

 

Here's what about a minute with Google turned up. I'm betting you can do better.

There's some duplication and it's a bit hard to home in on prior attacks because the web is currently pretty saturated with coverage of the most recent North Carolina attack and, to a lesser degree, the attacks in the Pacific Northwest.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ut/pr/...ility-admits-he-used-rifle-fire-shots-cooling

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo...on-calif-power-station-raises-terrorism-fears

https://sgp.fas.org/crs/homesec/R43604.pdf

https://www.opb.org/article/2022/12...id-attacks-in-pacific-northwest-are-unsolved/

https://www.aol.com/news/another-north-carolina-power-substation-225234533.html

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article269658086.html

https://www.newsweek.com/physical-attacks-power-substations-multiple-states-1765225

https://spectrum.ieee.org/attack-on-nine-substations-could-take-down-us-grid

https://centraloregondaily.com/oregon-clackamas-substation-attack-bonneville-power/

I was hoping that I could run across the report (I think it was from EPRI) that categorized the frequency of different types of damages, both intentional and unintentional, to the power grid, but I didn't.

Yup,
Several deal with one 2013 attach that worked it's way through courts until 2017 and a second attach in 2016 that worked its way through the courts until 2019.
Then the four atracks (2 in N. Carolina, 1 in Oregon, 1 in Washington) in the last month. One mention of the North Carolina attach from July that is "possibly" a single-location test attack for the two adjacent locations attack in North Carolina in the past month.

Interestingly, as I said, none of these reported attacks were accompanied with a warning from the FBI to warn authorities to be on the look out for such attacks of electrical substation attacks. So I stand by my statement that such warnings from the FBI are "unusual" and I'll counter that someone conflating actual attacks with FBI warnings of attacks are...

...trolling or complete ignorance.

 

As expected, you just want to argue. Not interested.

 

As expected, you just want to argue. Not interested.

Just want to argue about non-existing FBI warnings? Please explain.

 

The grid, it's about the grid.

What's Up With Grid Sub Stations?

Ron

 

The grid, it's about the grid.

What's Up With Grid Sub Stations?

Ron

I don't know about the grid part, but Sub Station is my favorite sandwich shop in the area.

 

I don't know about the grid part, but Sub Station is my favorite sandwich shop in the area.

<Off Topic> All we have close is Subway and been wanting to try Jersey Mike. Till recently the only Subway I knew was the New York City Transit Authority which I used daily as a kid. The power company First Energy, is already running commercials on how they are prepared for the snow and ice we expect to move in soon. Stay warm and safe.

Ron

 

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/25/us/tacoma-washington-substations-vandalized/index.html

 

3 substations in western Washington were attacked today leaving 14,000 customers without power. I hope the a**holes get caught.

 

3 substations in western Washington were attacked today leaving 14,000 customers without power. I hope the a**holes get caught.

I agree with that. Vandalism is the official statement on the damage. That leads me to think it's more of a moronic stunt than a organized grid infrastructure attack.

Some of the locations.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/4...51f7af724b4ab!8m2!3d47.1808573!4d-122.3680527
https://www.google.com/maps/place/8...445e30f728c1dc!8m2!3d47.0532899!4d-122.313135