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POWER ENGINEERS SUPPORTING TRUTH
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To the Editor, Wahington Post
The following letter is submitted for publication. It is in response to a recent OP-Ed article. Jack Casazza BLACKOUT SOLUTIONS AND THE MEDIA
One year ago, during the August 14, 2003 blackout, I spent five hours in the NBC studios in Washington being interviewed intermittently. I, and many others, were deeply concerned about the lack of knowledge of electric power systems that was shown by many of those interviewed. Most had no technical training or understanding about how these systems worked, yet provided explanations, predictions and solutions.
This concern was again aroused by the Op Ed article by Professors Lave and Apt published in the August 10 issues of the Washington Post. They argue that the primary focus concerning blackouts should be “coping, not prevention”. They are not power system engineers, one being an economist and one being a physicist and former astronaut, have little background in electric power systems, and have as technical advisors individuals whose careers have been in our universities, not in the design, planning or operation of electric power systems..
While one cannot disagree that preparing for power interruptions is a good idea, a national adoption of their proposals would involve huge costs. These need to be compared from the consumer and general public viewpoint with the other alternatives that are available. There are technical methods to significantly reduce the probability, extent and duration of major power interruptions. These should be reviewed in a National Power Survey similar to that made in 1964 that produced annual savings to electric consumers of $28 billion by the late 1980’s. It should include review of the 1978 blackout of all of France, about 80% of the size of the August 14 ,2004 blackout, in which all consumers were restored in four hours, not the almost 3 days that was taken last August. This survey should be the basis for deciding the results of what we have done and what our national power system and policy requirements for the future should be. It is not a “blue print” to be followed blindly but will examine the key alternates available to us and provide guidelines for our future technical developments and policies. Analyses made by the Department of Energy and FERC are of little use for this purpose.
Such a study, conducted by independent and experienced power system experts, not inexperienced college professors or government officials, and not those with commercial or political interests, needs to be mandated by Congress. It should be similar in conduct to the recent review of the September 11 attack and the review of the Columbia disaster. Only this approach will include a fair and unbiased review of past and future government policy and guidance for the future expansion of our transmission systems.
Jack Casazza IEEE Life Fellow President American Education Institute www.ameredinst.org Member. Power Engineers Supporting Truth www.PEST-03.org Winner of Philip Sporn and Herman Halperinlperin Awards for contributions to the development of electric power systems. (Brief biography attached.)
8208 Donset Dr. Springfield, Va. 22152 703 569 2543 or 703 569 3579
John A. Casazza - Biography
John A. (Jack) Casazza is currently President of the American Education Institute, a not-for-profit organization that he founded in 1994 dedicated to providing the education needed in setting electric power policy. He founded Power Engineers Supporting Truth (PEST) in September 2003 because of concern about incorrect information being published about the blackout. Mr. Casazza is also a former member of Board of Directors ofthe Georgia Systems Operation Company, a former member of the Executive Committee of the New York State Electric Reliability Council, and a former member of the Board of Adjustment that investigated the Franchise Dispute between the City of Chicago and the Commonwealth Edison Co. From 1979 until 1997 he also served as Chairman of the Board of CSA Energy Consultants, Inc. Before forming CSA, he was Vice President for Planning and Research of the Public Service Electric & Gas Company where he had been employed since 1946.
Mr. Casazza is a former member of the Energy Engineering Board of the National Research Council in Washington, D.C. He has also been a member of key committees of the U.S. Energy Association (World Energy Conference), Edison Electric Institute, CIGRE, the Electric Power Research Institute, the Gas Research Institute, the New Jersey Governor's Advisory Panel on Solar Energy, the New Jersey Advisory Panel on Cogeneration, the New Jersey Energy Research Institute, the North American Electric Reliability Council, and the USA/USSR Joint Commission on Scientific and Technical Cooperation.
Mr. Casazza was educated at the Cooper Union School of Engineering in New York from 1941 until 1943 and received his B.E.E. from Cornell University in 1945. He also completed General Electric Company's Power Systems Engineering Course and the American Management Association's Management Course. Mr. Casazza is the recipient of special citations from the Council Internationale des Grands Reseaux Electriques a Haute Tension (CIGRE) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He has also been active in CIGRE since 1964, and was awarded the Philip Sporn Award in 1994 for his "cumulative career contributions to the advance of the concept of system integration in the theory, design, and/or operation of large, high-voltage electric systems in the United States."
Mr. Casazza, IEEE Life Fellow, has been involved with the IEEE of over 58 years. Mr. Casazza was awarded in 1990 IEEE Herman Halperin Electric Transmission and Distribution Award. He received the United States Activities Board Citation of Honor in 1985. He is an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer and has been responsible for consulting projects in South American, Asia, Africa, Canada, Australia, and Europe. Mr. Casazza has testified extensively before Federal and state regulatory, legislative, and judicial bodies on many issues of national and local importance. He is the author of more than 70 publications on a broad scope of energy topics, and five books. His latest book, “Understanding Electric Power Systems - An Overview of the Technology and the Marketplace” was published by Wiley/IEEE Press in November of 2003. His novel, “Sham? Shame!”, which explores in terms of the people involved what has happened in the electric power industry and why, was published in July of 2001, and predicted a major blackout in August of 2004.
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