{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.02413127413127413, 'fraction_numerical': 0.00723938223938224, 'mean_word_length': 4.790502793296089, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Major Power Outages in the US, and around the World

The creation and delivery of power is one basic infrastructure expected by all modern industrial societies. Power distribution basics started in the US in the early 1900s when the first AC grid was established. Since 12 independent power grids were completed in the lower 48 states in the mid-1950s, reliability has been a customer concern. Parts of these earlier grids have been updated, and four of the US grids are tied to similar power grids in Canada. In this context, reliability concerns itself with an understanding of why there are power failures. A power surge in one part of the extended grid may bring down other sections when they are shut down for self-protection. This action is a self-protection mechanism for the grid which preserves the equipment, but extends the outage to more customers. As one grid becomes larger and more interconnected with other grids, higher power demands, and perhaps larger surges, may be expected. Shut down self-protection, intrinsic design margins, and redundant paths become keys to maintaining reliability. Until a smart grid is developed, which would separate and isolate sections of the grid, the whole grid could come crashing down. Maintenance practices, the incidence of extreme weather events, and the loss of transmission lines or power substations may then dominate the causes of power outages in this complex, dynamic system. Detail Table I presents a summary of major power outages over the last 45 years [1]. Because this is a time dependent table, one can determine if the power reliability is improving or declining over the years. Because the evolution of the power grid is dynamic, one must be careful when drawing conclusions. The items in the following tables show only the major power outages in the US & Canada, Europe, and the rest of the world (International). These failures are typically known by date, weather conditions, grid conditions, cause or causes, locations of failures, extent of failures in population, and duration of the power outage.