March 16, 2023
Blackout!
The next day, Liz entered Liam’s office and reported, “I spoke to the investigating agent Winslow. He has the name of the apartment owner’s daughter, Ashley Jo Johnson. He had no luck tracking her down yet.”
Liam, tapping the desk with his pen, requested, “Keep trying to reach her, and let me know when you find something out.”
“Will do.”
“Anything else?”
“I spoke with a director at a utility company about the causes of electric grid blackouts. It’s complicated, but I will try to make it look easy.” With a wry smile, Liz explained, “A disturbance in an electric line causes a redistribution of power flow. This redistribution causes the line to go out of service. “
Liam interrupted, “So the cyber-attack caused the initial disturbance?”
“Correct, but we are just getting to the good part. That line outage reduces the network’s capacity and overloads the remaining lines.”
Liam widened his eyes and agreed, “What happens then?”
Liz took a couple of steps toward the desk and raised one hand before her, making a fist. “Because of the overload, the remaining lines redistribute their power flows.” She opens her fist.
Liam interjected, “Cause and effect.”
Liz confirmed, “Exactly.” She moved forward again with one hand open, then raised her other hand with a fist. She continued, “More lines go out of service, and power flows are redistributed.” She opens her other hand and emphasizes, “This is a cascade failure.” Stepping closer to the desk, with her hands still open, knowing. “Now, ask me how it ends.”
Liam mused, “How does it end?”
Liz closed her open hands into fists and proclaimed, “Blackout!”
With a serious look, Liz continued, “Initial phases of grid failure start slowly, over the timeframe of a few hours. As the cascade becomes more advanced, failures accelerate in the speed of seconds.”
Liam was silent and thought about the implications.
Liz lowered and slowed her voice, “Remember when you asked me about the RF location on the map?”
“Yes.”
“That represents only 10% of the Eastern Interconnection.” Liz stopped talking and looked at Liam.
Liam stood, turned, walked over to the window, and requested, “Do whatever you have to and find Ashley Jo Johnson. We must get to her to find out who is behind this and get to them.”