Huh? There are interconnections between these power companies to allow them to share load, and get power where it is needed. But it isn't supposed to fail like this; the interconnections are not supposed to propagate a complete blackout.
The one for our area is the PA-NJ-MD interconnect: http://www.pjm.com/ My power company, PPL, is a participant. Incidentally my dad is a system operator for PPL in this region so I am basing my comments on what he has explained to me.
> what we
> don't know yet was what was the triggering event that made the grid shut
> down. But once the grid is broken, it's a safety mechanism that takes
> the other participants down gracefully: you can't get blood from a stone
> (or electrons from an empty pipe).
>
> Electrical power is very difficult to bring online, which is why it
> takes a while to get everyone back up. It's more art than science.
The main problem is that everyone's air conditioners, computers, etc., are left plugged in and "on" so that as power is restored the load spikes dramatically. If people got into the habit of turning everything off when there are blackouts the power companies could bring stations back on line much more quickly.
Matt
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