Power Grid Failure: What You Need to Know

If you have not heard, there were attacks on 2 North Carolina substations in December of 2022. Tens of thousands of people were without power for days. That should have been a wake up call about just how fragile our power grid is, and just how susceptible to attacks it is. Attacks both physical in nature (like the one mentioned above) and by cyber attacks.

That incident was relatively small in scale. But it raises an important question:

What would happen if something similar occurred on a much larger level?

A power grid failure is something most people don’t think about—until it happens. Our modern world depends on electricity for almost everything, and when that system fails, the effects can be immediate and widespread.

When people do think about threats to the power grid, they think about things like EMPs or massive solar storms. Those are real concerns. But now, the threat of physical attacks and cyberattacks on the grid itself has shown itself to be a real possibility. And unlike natural events, these can be:

• Coordinated
• Repeated
• Targeted

The Grid Wasn’t Built for This

The U.S. power grid was designed for:

• Efficiency
• Load balancing
• Reliability

It was not designed to withstand coordinated attacks.

Many substations—especially in rural or less populated areas—have:

• Minimal physical security
• Little to no surveillance
• Easy line-of-sight to critical components

In many cases, the most important parts of a substation are sitting in the open.

That makes them vulnerable. Take out the right substation—or enough of them—and you don’t just lose power locally. You can create cascading failures.

Now Add Cyberattacks

Physical attacks are only one side of the problem. The other is digital.

Modern power grids rely heavily on control systems known as SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition).

These systems:

• Monitor the grid
• Control switching operations
• Help balance load

And many of them are connected—directly or indirectly—to networks. That opens the door to cyber threats.

What a Cyberattack Could Do

A successful cyberattack doesn’t need to destroy equipment physically.

It can:

• Shut down portions of the grid
• Overload systems
• Cause equipment to fail
• Prevent operators from responding effectively

We’ve already seen examples of this in other parts of the world. Russia and Ukraine for example. Now imagine that happening here—at scale.

And here’s the problem:

You don’t need to hit hundreds of targets. In some cases, attacking a relatively small number of well-chosen substations could cause widespread disruption, and recovery could possibly take years.

And the reason for that comes down to one thing:

Complexity

An article by Jerry Emanuelson breaks it down pretty clearly:

The instantaneous shutdown of the power grid would occur primarily because of the widespread use of solid-state SCADAs (supervisory control and data acquisition devices) in the power grid.  These would be destroyed by the E1 pulse, but could probably be replaced within several weeks.  The greater problem would be in re-starting the power grid.  (No procedures have ever been developed for a “black start” of the entire power grid.  Starting a large power generating station actually requires electricity.)  The greatest problem would be the loss of many critical large power transformers due to geomagnetically induced currents, for which no replacements could be obtained for at least a few years.

While he is talking about the grid going down due to an EMP, the same would be true should the grid go down due to an attack.

Not One-Size-Fits-All

Another major problem is that these transformers are not interchangeable.

A general rule of thumb is that for every 13 transformers, there are about 10 different designs.

Each one is built for:

• A specific location
• A specific load
• A specific role within the grid

So if one fails, you can’t simply replace it with another unit from somewhere else. You need the exact type designed for that position.

This creates a level of complexity that makes large-scale repair extremely difficult.

And that is just the transformers.

You still have over 500,000 miles of high–voltage transmission lines in the U.S. and many hundreds of thousands more miles of distribution lines that carry electricity to our homes. Power lines could sag and even snap as a result of the massive surge from an attack. So you could be looking at replacing who knows how much line. (And producing more/transporting it etc.)

Basically, it boils down to this: should the US lose a substantial portion of its grid, it could be years; even a decade for power to be fully restored. The death toll from this, as you can imagine, would be catastrophic.

What This Really Means

When you step back and look at the bigger picture, all of this boils down to one simple truth:

Our electrical grid is incredibly fragile in ways most people don’t understand.

It’s not fragile in the sense that it fails easily during normal operation. (Although the power grid has been increasingly overloaded as the need for power grows.) But it is fragile when it comes to large-scale, coordinated, or widespread disruptions. And that’s the key difference.

A localized outage? Crews fix it.

A regional storm? It takes days or weeks. But there are systems in place to help with recovery.

But a nationwide grid failure—especially one involving damaged transformers, SCADA systems, and transmission infrastructure—is an entirely different animal. There is no quick fix.

The Ripple Effect

Electricity is not just about lights turning on. It is the backbone of nearly everything we rely on. If the grid goes down long-term, you are looking at:

• Water systems failing (no pumps, no treatment)
• Food supply breakdown (no refrigeration, no transport)
• Fuel shortages (gas pumps don’t work without power)
• Medical system collapse (limited backup power, overwhelmed facilities)
• Communication failure (cell towers and internet goes down)

Most people don’t realize just how quickly things begin to unravel.

Within 24 hours, grocery stores are empty.
Within a few days, supply chains are broken.
Within a week, you are dealing with something far beyond an inconvenience.

Why This Matters to You

It’s easy to read something like this and think:

“That’s extreme. That probably won’t happen.”

And maybe it won’t. I pray it does not.  But preparedness isn’t about predicting the future. It’s about understanding what is possible and making reasonable decisions/actions based on that reality. We KNOW that the grid has been attacked before. So it isn’t a big leap to assume it won’t happen again.

In the end, this isn’t about fear. It’s about awareness…and taking a few simple steps today to start putting yourself and your family in a better position should disaster strike.

For more articles on preparing for a potential grid down scenario, please check out these articles!

• 9 Things you should be doing right now to amplify your preparedness
• First things to do when bugging in for a SHTF event
• What you NEED to know about EMPs

Stay safe out there!!

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