Takeaways from 2024’s Biggest Outage Events

In an era when utilities and power generators rely on digital information technology (IT) infrastructure to help manage oversight of plant operations, ensuring uptime has never been more essential. Unfortunately, severe weather events can strike at any time—ranging from heavy snowfalls to scorching heat and hurricane winds—causing power outages that could bring production to a screeching halt.

As the energy industry faces a future where extreme weather events are poised to grow in frequency and intensity, it’s important to take measures now to safeguard critical IT systems. Assessing recent outage events can help underscore this importance and put organizations on the right path to implementing an effective disaster avoidance strategy.

5 Major Blackouts of 2024

As power generation facilities assess their readiness for the remainder of 2024 and into 2025, they should take lessons from recent outage events that demonstrate Mother Nature’s damaging potential. The following are five notable events from this year:

• Winter Storm Wreaks Havoc in the Northeast. In January, a powerful winter storm slammed the Northeast, causing coastal flooding and damaging winds that resulted in nearly a million power outages. The storm also brought complications with blizzard conditions to the central U.S., along with thunderstorms and tornadoes in the Southeast.
• Severe Weather Causes Chaos in California. In February, winter storms struck California with heavy rains and severe winds, cutting power for more than 850,000 Along with life-threatening flooding, the storms triggered dangerous mudslides and landslides in parts of the state.
• Hurricane Beryl Rolls Through Texas. More than a million homes and businesses were left without power in Texas days after Hurricane Beryl made landfall on July 8. The storm claimed at least four lives and caused more than 1,300 flight cancellations before moving northeast across the U.S.
• Ernesto’s Rains Soak Puerto Rico. Even though Hurricane Ernesto didn’t directly hit Puerto Rico, its outer bands still managed to knock out power for more than 700,000 The storm dumped more than 10 inches of rain on parts of the island as it rolled through on its way toward Bermuda.
• Helene Cuts a Path of Destruction. The southeastern U.S. was left devastated by wind and flooding after Hurricane Helene made landfall on September 26, leaving nearly 1.1 million without power in Georgia and one million in South Carolina. The mayor of Asheville, North Carolina, one of the hardest-hit areas, relayed that power lines in the region looked “like spaghetti.”

Thankfully, organizations have a variety of options available that, taken together, can help prepare for whatever comes.

Build the Foundation

To help build a robust disaster preparedness strategy, organizations should work with their IT teams to deploy backup power solutions that incorporate the latest technological advances to help maximize protection. For example, uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs), which provide the important bridge to long-running generator power in the event of an outage, can now be deployed with innovative lithium-ion battery technology. Leveraging a UPS equipped with a lithium-ion battery can help to extend battery life and service life, as well as reduce the footprint of these solutions.

Digital innovations go hand in hand with fundamental backup power components, helping users manage and monitor power devices from potentially anywhere in the world using dedicated network management cards. Deploying cloud-connected UPS systems can help simplify remote monitoring and control, allowing users to monitor UPS status and battery levels in real time via mobile app or web browser whether deploying a single UPS or an entire fleet.

Using data center performance management software (DCPM) for local or centralized infrastructure—as well as distributed IT performance management software for wider networks and electrical power monitoring system software for power distribution infrastructure—can enable IT teams to oversee power assets across their entire network. Additionally, by leveraging these digital technologies, even remotely, IT teams can push timely firmware updates while staying ahead of cyberthreats in the evolving digital landscape.

Finally, having reliable hardware components, including surge protective devices and power strips, also helps to ensure resiliency in preparation of unforeseen events. Combined with rack and cabinet power distribution units (PDUs), IT teams can ensure they have an end-to-end solution in place to safeguard assets and best protect against unplanned downtime.

Take a Vigilant Approach

While it is difficult to predict exactly when and where storms will occur, it is also clear that extreme weather events will continue to lash out in a variety of ways. The energy industry can expect to face many of the same weather-related obstacles that have already made headlines in 2024, and these events are only likely to be more intense. While it’s impossible to control the weather, much can be done to ensure effective readiness. Power generation organizations that take steps now to safeguard IT systems can experience uninterrupted operations now and for years to come.

—Ed Spears ([email protected]) is a technical marketing manager in Eaton’s Critical Power Systems division in Raleigh, North Carolina. A 40-year veteran of the power systems industry, Ed has experience in UPS systems testing, sales, applications engineering, and training—as well as working in power-quality engineering and marketing for telecommunications, data centers, cable television, and broadband public networks.