# This is old news to some of us, but it bears repeating



## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

*"U.S. Electric Grid Vulnerable to Unprecedented Waves of Attack"*

"Amid a wave of increasing attacks across the country on key power stations, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, or NERC, has been struggling to force the power industry to enact a series of security improvements meant to stop would-be attackers and terrorists from crippling the nation's infrastructure."

U.S. Electric Grid Vulnerable to Unprecedented Waves of Attack


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

Why this remains such an obvious Achilles Heal is beyond me. The generators required are not even produced in this country and would take years if not decades to replace.


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## MountainGirl (Oct 29, 2017)

Camel923 said:


> Why this remains such an obvious Achilles Heal is beyond me. The generators required are not even produced in this country and would take years if not decades to replace.


 Your answer is in your post. They know, they've looked at it, and realize it's now too late and too massive to fix. It wouldn't have been - had the willingness to spend the money and effort years ago been the choice.


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

MountainGirl said:


> Your answer is in your post. They know, they've looked at it, and realize it's now too late and too massive to fix. It wouldn't have been - had the willingness to spend the money and effort years ago been the choice.


That is part of it. But this has been known for a couple of decades. Continued foot dragging is exasperating the problem.


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## MountainGirl (Oct 29, 2017)

Camel923 said:


> That is part of it. But this has been known for a couple of decades. Continued foot dragging to exasperating the problem.


Agree, and I'd venture to say it will never be done. All the more reason for us to 1)figure a way to generate our own, and/or 2)figure out ways to not need it to survive. Always options if we're creative enough.


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

There is no way to physically protect the WHOLE power grid. Power lines run for miles across open country. Let alone all the transfer stations, and power producers. Like dams, solar farms, wind mills and power plants of all kinds. 

Heck we can't even get a armed guard for a school. How are we going to guard everything power related??

MG is right on the money. We need to be able to learn how to live without it. Like our forefathers did 100 years ago.


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## Redneck (Oct 6, 2016)

Chipper said:


> MG is right on the money. We need to be able to learn how to live without it. Like our forefathers did 100 years ago.


Trouble is, a century ago or more, there was a huge infrastructure to support living without electricity... along with all the associated tools & knowledge. So if we loose electricity in a snap, it will be like going back to the stone age or worse, as we will generally be lost on how to proceed. Who here knows how to train an animal to pull a plow? Who has such a plow or the experience to make one? I could go on & on.

Point is, no matter how well we prepare, it will be much harder than society just resetting 100 years. Plus, the few of us that are somewhat prepared, might get overrun by the 99.9 % of the population that will panic as they starve. Don't mind saying this scenario is the one that concerns me the most.


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## Robie (Jun 2, 2016)

MountainGirl said:


> Your answer is in your post. They know, they've looked at it, and realize it's now too late and too massive to fix. It wouldn't have been - had the willingness to spend the money and effort years ago been the choice.


We had entitlement payments to make.

Wake up, woman.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

It wasn't until the 1930s that electric power was brought into the Tennessee valley region,

It was done with dams built by the feds, and run by the TVA .

Same applied to the southwest, only a patch work of electric until the Boulder Dam was built.

The bulk of that power went into California for the defense industry, and just in time, IMHO.

There were many others built with the same "New Deal" programs.

The power companies today are only interested in stock holder profits.

They are expecting the feds to cover their financial asses when the grid goes down.

I don't like National Grid, they suck!

I have worked on low emission boiler research only to have the advancements blocked by the left wing bastards.

If the grid suffers a national cascaded failure it will be decades for recovery.

Today the generators, transformers, high line components are made in china, 

they won't be coming from there, some of them take several years to build.

Most are custom units, tailored to a specific need in voltage and current capacity.


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## StratMaster (Dec 26, 2017)

*"How do you even harden an electric grid against such an attack? According to the EPRI, utilities are deploying tactics that include shielding control rooms with Faraday cages, using new grounded metallic relay houses, grounding and shielding power supply and communications cables, installing robust surge protectors/arresters, increasing use of fiber optic cables for communication, and neutral blockers for transformers."*

Texas May Become a Testing Ground for Defending the Grid From EMPs

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a23196/texas-emp-defense/


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## Prepared One (Nov 5, 2014)

Grid down is high on my list of probabilities. You can bet our many enemies will get around to it sooner or later.


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## Chiefster23 (Feb 5, 2016)

This is the primary reason I built my solar PV system. It can only supply a small percentage of my current usage. But at least I can produce some electricity to power my most critical needs. If at all possible, everyone here should try to have some solar or wind power capacity. Keeping a mini-fridge running in a grid down situation would be a life saver keeping insulin cool for neighborhood diabetics.


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## 0rocky (Jan 7, 2018)

Camel923 said:


> Why this remains such an obvious Achilles Heal is beyond me. The generators required are not even produced in this country and would take years if not decades to replace.


I was under the misguided impression that the generators were built by G.E.


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

Chiefster23 said:


> This is the primary reason I built my solar PV system. It can only supply a small percentage of my current usage. But at least I can produce some electricity to power my most critical needs. If at all possible, everyone here should try to have some solar or wind power capacity. Keeping a mini-fridge running in a grid down situation would be a life saver keeping insulin cool for neighborhood diabetics.


Other solar power capabilities that may be useful are charging intruder alarms and flashlight batteries and keeping shortwave radios operable. News will be sought after grid-down, and reliable news may only come from overseas. You may even be able to set up a trading post for charging neighbor's batteries, if you think it's safe.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

0rocky said:


> I was under the misguided impression that the generators were built by G.E.


I don't know if their generators and turbines in the MVA range products are made here but they are assembled in Schenectady NY.

Have seen different levels of x-former's with nomenclature plates indicating made in Chinko land.


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## Redneck (Oct 6, 2016)

sideKahr said:


> Other solar power capabilities that may be useful are charging intruder alarms and flashlight batteries and keeping shortwave radios operable. News will be sought after grid-down, and reliable news may only come from overseas. You may even be able to set up a trading post for charging neighbor's batteries, if you think it's safe.


Having at least some minimal long term electricity should be a goal of all preppers, for the reasons mentioned, plus others. The ability to refrigerate or freeze may not be critical for all, but it sure will be nice. Having hot water without a fire would sure be convenient. Having water flow thru your plumbing will be mighty nice but running your drip irrigation might be a lifesaver. Most of my tools now are battery operated... even my saws.

I've mentioned this many times before, but for us non engineer types, a solar generator is hard to beat. A single panel can recharge it during the day. Solar is more costly than fuel based generators and will produce less power but has advantages... no fuel to run out or ration and is very stealthy. Nothing will bring intruders faster than the sound of a gas generator running.


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## Chiefster23 (Feb 5, 2016)

One big disadvantage with solar is the size and visibilty of the panels. Having panels in your yard or on your roof is going to make you a target for people looking to confiscate or steal your set up. And I can’t think of any way to disguise solar panels. But I still think it’s a good investment for preppers in spite of it’s drawbacks.


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

Chiefster23 said:


> One big disadvantage with solar is the size and visibilty of the panels. Having panels in your yard or on your roof is going to make you a target for people looking to confiscate or steal your set up. And I can't think of any way to disguise solar panels. But I still think it's a good investment for preppers in spite of it's drawbacks.


I agree. I have portable solar panels that fold up and can be hidden inside when required.


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

0rocky said:


> I was under the misguided impression that the generators were built by G.E.


The type needed for the electrical grid are only made in Japan by special order. They take from what I remember a year and a half? To build. Then they have to be shipped and installed. Consider the number of stations that require such equipment to get the grid back up and it is quite a mess. I did a brief search but failed to locate the article I am thinking of. Perhaps I am using an incorrect term or two.


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## Redneck (Oct 6, 2016)

Chiefster23 said:


> One big disadvantage with solar is the size and visibilty of the panels. Having panels in your yard or on your roof is going to make you a target for people looking to confiscate or steal your set up. And I can't think of any way to disguise solar panels. But I still think it's a good investment for preppers in spite of it's drawbacks.


Out in the country, ain't much need to disguise the panels but I'd sure think, even in a subdivision, one could easily hide them behind fencing (say in the backyard) or block the view of them with something... like maybe a car. And I just don't think too many folks would steal a panel, because most folks don't understand solar and just having the panel gains you nothing. Especially in a subdivision, surrounded by people, you would keep your solar generator, or other setup, inside the house connected by a long cord.

I'd like to think you & most preppers could come up with a way of hiding a panel, using everyday stuff, so that it doesn't scream "I've got electricity here".


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

Chiefster23 said:


> One big disadvantage with solar is the size and visibilty of the panels. Having panels in your yard or on your roof is going to make you a target for people looking to confiscate or steal your set up. And I can't think of any way to disguise solar panels. But I still think it's a good investment for preppers in spite of it's drawbacks.


They make roofing shingles that function as solar panels.


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## soyer38301 (Jul 27, 2017)

Prepared One said:


> Grid down is high on my list of probabilities. You can bet our many enemies will get around to it sooner or later.


And after they take the grid down you will see them coming in to try to take over. Just my thoughts...

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk


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