Keeping the lights on

Intelligent grids, unstable inputs of renewable energy and smart appliances. Are these the tools that we will use to help avoid future blackouts and keep the lights on? ON 4 NOVEMBER 2006, a major European blackout left more than 15 million customers with no electricity for several hours. The initial cause of the blackout was a planned disconnection of an overhead power line across a river in north-west Germany to allow a ship to pass, which resulted in minor changes in load flows. However, reconnecting the circuit line proved problematic: N1 criterion (the ability of the transmission system to lose a linkage without causing an overload failure elsewhere) could not be met, leading to a huge pan-European blackout.