I read an article about a month ago that indicated Power Grid testing was to occur (no specifics on location) April 9 and Sept. 19. Has anybody heard anything about this? Thanks

-- Anonymous, March 30, 1999

Answers

I sat next to the Northern States Power rep at Fargo's Y2k task force meeting a week ago. I asked why they would do testing on April 9th, when there is the possibility that things would be screwed up anyway. She said it was "so they would have people in place should something go wrong." I don't know what their actual "tests" will consist of, but it sounds a little like Jim Lord's "smoke test" where you simply try it (a critical date) and see what happens. I wonder if, for the most part, that is what they are calling "testing".

Incidentally, NSP has been running full page ads here saying there is no greater chance of a blackout on 1/1/2000 than any other winter day. When I suggested that NSP should either prove it to our group so we can forget making contingency plans, or we should plan for a problem, she said "we should plan for the worst". (That may have meant plan for a 10 day outage, as that is what we had been discussing.)

-- Anonymous, March 30, 1999

A. Kay, NERC is coordinating two industry drills (NOT testing of the power grid) which will take place on April 9 and September 9 of this year.

In a December, 1998 thread on this forum, Dave Carter provided a concise summary:

"This initial drill [4/9/99] will focus on personnel and communications. The drill will assume partial loss of voice and data communications and partial loss of EMS/SCADA functionality. Operating entities and Security Coordinators will be required to identify key operating facilities and information requirements. Properly trained personnel will be sent to key locations and will be required to identify and communicate critical operating information over backup communications systems. The goal is to demonstrate the ability to operate electric systems with limited voice and data communications and EMS/SCADA functionality."

"The second drill on September 9, 1999 is expected to be a dress rehearsal for the rollover from December 31, 1999 to January 1, 2000. This drill may include reducing planned outages, modified commitment of resources, redispatch of generation and transmission loading, cooperation with electric market participants, and staffing of all critical facilities. The goal would be to simulate system conditions and operating plans for the Y2k transition as closely as possible without increasing risks to personnel and equipment safety or system operating security."

A.Kay, if you do a Search (link found at the top of the New Questions page on this forum) for the word, "drill", you will find quite a lot of information and opinions on nearly every aspect of these drills, including their validity, the planning and reporting processes to be used, and reasons why those specific dates were chosen for the drills.

There is also information on the April drill at:

http://www.nerc.com/y2k

However, to be able to access most of the info on the NERC site you need to have an Adobe Acrobat reader. (I believe there is information on the NERC site about downloading Adobe for free.) The September drill details are still being formulated by NERC and have not been finalized yet. Both drills are part of industry contingency planning, to provide training and coordination for possible Y2K disruptions. They will be conducted as a separate test of procedures and will not interfere with the day-to-day operation of the utilities. As mentioned before, these drills are not tests of whether the utilities' are remediated regarding Y2K, but will provide some training to deal with certain types of problems which might arise during the rollover to 2000.

-- Anonymous, March 30, 1999

I have never heard of a plan or even a rumor of a plant to test the grid. Has anyone else?

-- Anonymous, April 03, 1999

Go to E.L. Core's article on the Westergarrd WWW site @ http://www.y2ktimebomb.com/Industry/Utilities/lcore9914.htm It is dated 06 April 99 and talks about the simulations, (this is not a test of the power grid)

-- Anonymous, April 06, 1999

At the WDCY2K meeting in January, 1999, a representative of the Edison Electric Institute reluctantly acknowledged that I understood correctly that the grid will first be tested at midnight on December 31, 1999. Evidently a true test is impossible for regulatory reasons, liability reasons, technical reasons, whatever. So they are testing this generator, that component, that subsystem, etc. and hoping that it will all work together OK. Of course, we would never accept this approach from a garage mechanic who says the brake job was done right even though he did not personally drive the car around the block and try the brakes!

-- Anonymous, April 13, 1999