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Yesterday, Con Ed released the initial report on what happened with the Queens blackout. It's 107 pages, and it's mostly a chronology of the events that unfolded - the feeder cables going out, day after day, trying to prevent bigger outages, etc. Mayor Bloomberg isn't satisfied with the report so far - what happened to being BFF with Con Ed, Mike? Don't like 'em so much when you're all hot and sweaty now, huh?
You can read the report right here (PDF). We skimmed it last night, and it was pretty dry in a horrifying way as you remember how terrible it was in Queens ("ten feeder cables went out") for 10 days. But one thing we did enjoy were the diagrams and illustrations. This weekend, we're reading the report and learning all about the Long Island City network!
And Con Ed is asking businesses and residents on the East Side, between 14th and 40th Street, to turn off non-essential appliances - there are feeder problems!
Update: If it's hot, it's time to freakout - here's the email that's been circulating around:
My friend's dad works for ConEd - he just called and told her not to ride the subways any more today, as we will likely have a blackout. ConEd is sending all non-essential employees home right now so they can shut down power to their building. From yesterday's heat, Manhattan has 4 feeders out, putting a big strain on the system. He said in his 30 years working there, he's never seen ConEd act like this, especially at 10:30 in the morning. He said not to panic, but not to take a chance if it can be helped - avoid riding the subway if at all possible.To clarify, Con Ed has an office at 14th Street; Con Ed asked all businesses between 14th and 40th Streets to reduce the power, so that's probably why non-essential employees were sent home. And while four feeders were out, the area in question has over 30 feeder cables . The reader who sent it to us wrote, "Given my knowledge of the subway, I don't believe this to be true or possible. There are 4 power sub-stations which have independent generators. The subway is not entirely dependent on ConEd." That's true, the NYC Transit Authority is the biggest consumer of electricity in the city, but it has 215 substations of its own. Anyone else have thoughts?
Aha, and the AMNY subway blog, Tracker says it's a rumor, at least according to the NYCTA spokesman Charles Seaton. And City Council Dan Garodnick's office will be handing out information about conserving electricity in the East 20's-40's.
Update: Con Ed denies the email! am New York's Chuck Bennett has the details from Con Ed spokesman Alfonso Quiroz, who adds, "I am going to be riding the subway tonight when I go home to Jackson Heights, Queens."
Diagram and illustration from the Con Ed report about the Queens blackout
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Link doesn't work.
If the power goes out in Manhattan, will the subways still work?
Con Edison crews are repairing seven feeders in two East Side networks.
Four of 24 feeders are out of service in the Madison Square network, which serves approximately 29,400 customers between 14th Street and 30th Street, from Fifth Avenue to the East River.
Crews are working on three of 12 feeders in the Kips Bay network, which supplies electricity to approximately 23,700 customers between 30th Street and 40th Street, from Madison Avenue to the East River.
I talked to a ConEd lineworker last week--and this may just be union agitprop--but according to him, ConEd execs facs massive fiscal penalties for shutting down feeder cables. In that situation, they're more liklely to allow a more-widespread failure occur and say "Ah man, the system's f'd" than cut the power at a less critical juncture. Again, that's just hearsay from a lineworker, but those guys are "On It."
The email looks bogus to me, but apparently Con Ed has actually asked all the buildings on the East Side from 14th to 42nd to cut power in half. There are offices that are sending people home, but I don't think the email has anything to do with it.
Well, this what happens when politics intrudes into technology.
Con Ed, like all electric utiltities , has a system based on what is most likely. Spending millions of dollars on extra equipment (feeders) when they may only be needed a few days a year does not semm like a sound fiscal policy for any business no matter what the industry. So the solution would be to cut off the power when you see the regular feeders overheating, right? No, because the last time Con Ed did that, the politicinas cried foul and rascism because of the neighborhood that was cut off. So now, Con Ed will rather let the system go haywire and blame technological issues rather than take the right and most efficient action. Anything to avoid the demagogic pols from jumping on an explicit human decision by a system operator.
I'd err on the side of caution with that email and its veracity. Anything that starts with "my friend's dad" is questionable.
"rascism"?
is this like "linching"?
I know that wasn't a typo because I see it a lot.
(alot)
Apparently it is true that non-essential ConEd staff were sent home around noon. My girlfriend's aunt works for them. No other details.
"My friend's dad" might as well be from "your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate."...
It's weird that they send people home, to all their individual apartments where the first thing they will do is go inside and crank the a/c. I wonder which uses more power - 100 ppl in an office or 100 ppl at home with a/c.
Also, some buildings on the East Side (like 3 Park Ave.) were lit up on top ALL NIGHT last night. Nice power saving measures, guys. 41st and 5th had about 8 jumbo TV screens on in the windows as well. There really should be a fine for places that do that. So wasteful.
How can the subway stay up during a power outage? Didn't it die along with everything else during the big blackout a few years ago? If it were on an independent grid, how would that have happened?
I have talked with folks from Councilmember Garodnick's office and I just got an email from State Senator Liz Krueger saying they are very concerned about a blackout happening since many of the feeders are out so this is real. It looks like the Eastside is going to have some problems. They might have to isolate it from the grid to prevent the whole thing from going down.
Called 311 as of 4:10 PM and the operator said: 1) they are reducing power to Bkyln, Qns and Bronx by 5% and 2) there are no reported outages on Manhattan's east side.
MT, the subway train power worked since it's on DC but everything else went down (Switching, lights, communications, etc)
"there are no reported outages on Manhattan's east side."
They don't know what they're talking about.
Because ConEd is so dense, I called them up around 2:30 to tell them that Kips Bay Tower, on 30th btwn 1st and 2nd (the huge 20story concrete building), has no power.
So, they're wrong about whether there are any reports and wrong that there are no outages.
This morning, all the elevators were out in the building, there was no water, and most apartments had partial power (rooms without power, reduced power in other rooms).
They've had plenty of time to figure this out. Kips Bay Towers are one of the largest apartment complexes in New York City. Just goes to show how reliable 311 is for anything.
Ahhh. Thanks for the clarification S.D.
Speaking of wasting power, every effin store on 34th st has their doors open with AC blasting out. Same goes for SOHO and probably every other shopping area.
They are handing out flyers on 14th St between Ave A and 1st Ave. They say, "URGENT This neighborhood is at risk of a complete power outage." And list things to do to protect yourself and save power. (Has Sephora shut their doors yet?)
My building has shut down the laundry and elevators. We also got notices warning of a possible power outage. Notices on the doors say we are already on reduced power.
I feel bad for the poor graphic designer who had to put those charts and graphs together to make that 107 page PDF from hell.
As usual, a bunch of conspiracy, snopes-worthy bullshit. Give me a fucking break.