Lessons from 2023’s Most Significant Blackouts

How educational facilities can learn from major weather-related power outages to improve disaster preparedness…

In educational environments heavily dependent on information technology (IT) systems to support both on- and off-campus learning, extensive power outages can significantly disrupt operations. And considering the unpredictability of Mother Nature in the modern era, extreme weather events posing formidable threats to uptime could happen at any time of year.

Heavy snowstorms, summer wildfires, and thunderous blackouts are growing in frequency and intensity, presenting serious consequences to those who may be unprepared. With experts predicting an overwhelmingly active summer storm season, analyzing major outage events from last year can help educational facilities and their IT teams set a foundation for improving uptime and resilience against potential weather-related disasters in the year to come.

Six Big Blackouts from 2023

1. Wild weather travel cross-country – On February 22, few states were left unaffected by extreme weather. While a winter storm closed interstate highways from Arizona to Wyoming and prompted the first blizzard warning in Southern California in decades, record highs were broken throughout cities in the Midwest, mid-Atlantic, and Southeast. The events caused significant outages with more than 811,000 recorded in Michigan, 58,000 in Wisconsin, and over 41,000 in California among others.
2. A crawling, catastrophic storm – Nearly one million customers were left in the dark after a powerful winter storm made its way across the Great Lakes, South, and mid-Atlantic states on March 3, causing crews to work around the clock to restore power. The next day, hundreds of thousands remained without power in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Michigan and even more in Alabama, West Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York.
3. Torrential rain washed out power – More than 500,000 homes and businesses were without power across California on January 8, as the state faced heavy rain, high winds, and potential floods. Areas across the state prepared to endure five to seven inches of rain over a nine-day period.
4. Midwestern mess – On June 29, a line of severe thunderstorms produced rain, hail, and winds up to 70 mph, leaving nearly 500,000 people facing power outages in Indiana and Illinois. Utilities warned customers to expect more outages as forecasts called for “an unsettled weather pattern” to move into the area.
5. Biggest outage in three decades levels San Francisco – The San Francisco Bay Area suffered its worst power outage since 1995 on March 14 due to a week-long storm. The heavy rains and high winds left 450,000 customers in the dark. In the Santa Cruz Mountains, wind gusts hit 97 mph as downed trees toppled power lines.
6. Floods, winds, and widespread blackouts – A powerful storm in New England brought over three inches of rain on December 19, leading to floods and power outages for over 600,000 people. The storm’s aftermath saw thousands of workers rushing to restore power amidst extensive damage.

These examples drive home the urgency for educational facilities to ensure they have a comprehensive disaster mitigation strategy in place for responding to major storms. Thankfully, facilities and their IT teams have a multitude of available solutions to help defend against downtime and safeguard IT investments.

Equip for success

To help protect IT operations, a good first step is to assess current power management resources and consider upgrades to outdated equipment. Technologies like uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) play a crucial role in delivering backup power during an unforeseen emergency—serving as the critical link to generator power in the event of an outage. Incorporating new advancements, such as lithium-ion batteries, can help extend the life of the batteries and the UPS and reduce the footprint of these solutions. Keeping up to date with regularly scheduled maintenance on the UPS, its batteries, and the generator will also provide peace of mind that the system remains ready to perform when its numbers are called.

In conjunction with hardware devices like UPSs, facilities and IT teams should consider digital solutions, including data center performance management software (DCPM) for local or centralized infrastructure, and distributed IT performance management software to oversee a campus-wide network of power management assets. Network management cards can be deployed to integrate software that enables remote monitoring and management of power assets even when IT staff aren’t physically onsite. Monitoring services that incorporate predictive analytics can be added to help teams analyze power trends over time and execute more proactive maintenance.

Incorporating industrial-grade hardware tools, including surge protectors, power strips, and reliable rack enclosures, is also important to ensure a well-rounded strategy. Combining power management solutions with rackmount and cabinet power distribution units can help keep valuable assets safe and powered during unforeseen events.

Ace the preparedness test

Extreme weather events have already made their presence felt in 2024, but the worst could be yet to come with hurricane season on the horizon. Significant storms may be difficult to forecast, but educational facilities and their IT teams can evaluate their risk by assessing their proximity to severe weather events and identifying the most vulnerable components of their infrastructure. Making investments in the right backup power systems as part of a comprehensive disaster preparedness plan will help ensure that campus facilities are up to the task.

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Ed Spears is a technical marketing manager in Eaton’s Critical Power & Digital Infrastructure Division in Raleigh, North Carolina. He can be reached at [email protected]. This is his first article for Facilities Manager.