There has been a lot of talk about how our electrical grid is vulnerable to a cyber attack but is it even more vulnerable in other ways? There is this report: Why an AK-47 may be a bigger threat to the electricity grid than a cyberattack
The revelation this week that a group of people attacked a power station in California last spring is forcing a reassessment of what may be the most frightening threat to the nation’s electricity grid. Before the news broke, most utility executives were worried about cyberattacks. But the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the attack on the Metcalf power station near San Jose in April was much more conventional:
Within half an hour, snipers opened fire on a nearby electrical substation. Shooting for 19 minutes, they surgically knocked out 17 giant transformers that funnel power to Silicon Valley. A minute before a police car arrived, the shooters disappeared into the night.
So just how vulnerable is the electrical power grid? The last two major outages we have had in my area have not been the result of weather or terrorists but squirrels. They short out transformers which just goes to show how vulnerable our electrical grid is. We will probably have some freezing rain here in Portland within the next 24 hours and there is not much we can do about that. There will probably be some power outages and I am ready. There will also probably be some squirrels seeking the warmth they can find near transformers.