> After hearing the news today, I'm recalling a description of the big
> outage in '76 (? I'm too young to remember) in the same region.
>
> IIRC, in my power systems class, we discussed the matter, and my
> prof said that the same issue could cause it again, and that, due to
> the sheer scale of the infrastructure, it was virtually impossible to
> effect cost-effective refurbishing of the system to prevent it.
>
> This sounds like the same deal...Anyone have any thoughts on the
> matter?

        Hehe, you know, I was thinking of the exact same thing! In my power systems
class we studied the complexity of keeping such a large system stable, I
don't remember the "order" of the system, but it was staggering. Even
simplifying the models resulted in a VERY complex system to model.
Personally I'm completely amazed, knowing how complex the system is, how
well they've been able to keep the system going. TTYL

        PS. It seems the whole thing was triggered by a lightning strike hitting
the grid in the Niagara region on the US side. Power is coming back in some
areas in Ontario, not where I am yet though.

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