power down grid test tomorrow??

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I had not heard of that ... Just googled it.

That's ... interesting.

If they cut power to my neck of the woods I'm throwing the cat in the back of the car and heading to my parents'. No way am I staying in my neighborhood when the power goes out.
 
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Given the number of nasty things that have occurred the last decade during "preparedness testing", please stay extra vigilant and aware of your surroundings during this one.
 
Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
Folks,

NERC is running a simulated exercise (GridEx II) -- no actual power outages will occur.


I haven't looked into the details, but I was under the impression that they were simulating a uncontrolled grid down condition, by purposely taking the grid down temporarily.

I still don't see any details on how they are going to simulate it, but I do see that it is voluntary. So I guess certain entities are going to volunteer to have their power cut.
 
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AVB,

https://www.signup4.net/Upload/BOOZ21A/GRID13E/GridEx II Fact Sheet 2013.pdf
https://www.signup4.net/Upload/BOOZ21A/GRID13E/GridEx II Recruitment Deck.pdf

"During the one and a half days of the live exercise play, participants will receive sequenced email messages – injects – that detail notional scenario conditions. Based on this information, participants will engage in both internal response measures and external information sharing activities across the sector."

It's purely a message based simulation to evaluate regional response to simulated attack events.
 
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It's just a simulation, and it's been done before (November of 2011). There's nothing to fret over, no one will lose their electricity, and there's no need to pack up and head for the woods.

Originally Posted By: javacontour
If you want to read how a message based exercise can potentially go wrong...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83

PS, that was 30 years ago yesterday!


And NERC has run this same exercise before without an issue. I'm not sure how a 1983 NATO exercise is even relevant, given the changes in technology.
 
The point is just because something is a message only exercise, all it takes is for one party to think it's not just message traffic, but something really going on to mess up your administrative drill.

The problem is not a technology problem, it's a people problem.

Ultimately, humans are making choices on how to respond to the message traffic.

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
It's just a simulation, and it's been done before (November of 2011). There's nothing to fret over, no one will lose their electricity, and there's no need to pack up and head for the woods.

Originally Posted By: javacontour
If you want to read how a message based exercise can potentially go wrong...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83

PS, that was 30 years ago yesterday!


And NERC has run this same exercise before without an issue. I'm not sure how a 1983 NATO exercise is even relevant, given the changes in technology.
 
Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
AVB,

https://www.signup4.net/Upload/BOOZ21A/GRID13E/GridEx II Fact Sheet 2013.pdf
https://www.signup4.net/Upload/BOOZ21A/GRID13E/GridEx II Recruitment Deck.pdf

"During the one and a half days of the live exercise play, participants will receive sequenced email messages – injects – that detail notional scenario conditions. Based on this information, participants will engage in both internal response measures and external information sharing activities across the sector."

It's purely a message based simulation to evaluate regional response to simulated attack events.


Thank you for the clarification, it doesn't look like much of a simulation if they are going to have power during the exercise.
 
Originally Posted By: javacontour
The point is just because something is a message only exercise, all it takes is for one party to think it's not just message traffic, but something really going on to mess up your administrative drill.

The problem is not a technology problem, it's a people problem.

Ultimately, humans are making choices on how to respond to the message traffic.

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
It's just a simulation, and it's been done before (November of 2011). There's nothing to fret over, no one will lose their electricity, and there's no need to pack up and head for the woods.

Originally Posted By: javacontour
If you want to read how a message based exercise can potentially go wrong...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83

PS, that was 30 years ago yesterday!


And NERC has run this same exercise before without an issue. I'm not sure how a 1983 NATO exercise is even relevant, given the changes in technology.


No, the point is that a bunch of people have blown it way out of proportion. Tell me, were there massive power outages today? Did the grid go down?

I predict that there won't be any massive power outages tomorrow either.
 
You can't really tell me what my point is. I get to define what my point was. You wondered why my comments about Able Archer 83 were relevant and I explained my point.

If you want to have your own point fine. But to say that my explanation of what I said really wasn't my point is insanely rude and presumptive.

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
Originally Posted By: javacontour
The point is just because something is a message only exercise, all it takes is for one party to think it's not just message traffic, but something really going on to mess up your administrative drill.

The problem is not a technology problem, it's a people problem.

Ultimately, humans are making choices on how to respond to the message traffic.

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
It's just a simulation, and it's been done before (November of 2011). There's nothing to fret over, no one will lose their electricity, and there's no need to pack up and head for the woods.

Originally Posted By: javacontour
If you want to read how a message based exercise can potentially go wrong...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83

PS, that was 30 years ago yesterday!


And NERC has run this same exercise before without an issue. I'm not sure how a 1983 NATO exercise is even relevant, given the changes in technology.


No, the point is that a bunch of people have blown it way out of proportion. Tell me, were there massive power outages today? Did the grid go down?

I predict that there won't be any massive power outages tomorrow either.
 
The battery factory I use to work at would go through big bucks with a power outage. If it was unplanned then dozens of $150 fuses would blow and need replaced from the battery circuits on test discharge. And the batteries on discharge would have to be recharged and the test start over loosing about 48 hours of production.

It got so bad at one summer that the electric company would get billed thousands every time it happened before ConEd beefed up the system.

They aren't going to just pull the switch without telling their large industrial users.
 
And despite all the hand wringing, despite all the comparisons to NATO exercises, there were no mistakes, no power outages; it was a non-event just as most of us predicted.

All the folks who got their knickers knotted up can unwind and relax.
 
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