Major outage reports in 2020
383outage and grid-emergency reports filed with DOE for 2020
In 2020, 383 reports began; 105 more than 2019, when 278 began. August 2020 was the busiest month (82). The busiest day was 4 Aug 2020, with 14 reports across 12 states. Severe weather and natural disasters lead 2020 at 43%; 169 of the 2020 reports list customers and 126 list 50,000 or more.
2020 by month
2020 reports by start month
- 21Jan
- 21Feb
- 26Mar
- 45Apr
- 24May
- 20Jun
- 31Jul
- 82Aug
- 27Sep
- 39Oct
- 21Nov
- 26Dec
Which states filed most in 2020
2020 reports by grid region
| Region | Reports | States | Customers listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| WECC | 119 | 10 | 7,102,014 |
| SERC | 69 | 15 | 6,018,343 |
| RF | 57 | 14 | 4,167,551 |
| TRE | 44 | 7 | 2,359,849 |
| NPCC | 42 | 8 | 3,964,331 |
| MRO | 28 | 15 | 740,004 |
| SPP RE | 16 | 3 | 1,120,697 |
| FRCC | 8 | 1 | 49,999 |
Customer totals add filings as made, so one outage filed twice counts twice. NERC regions are the reliability areas DOE lists on each 2020 report.
Busiest days of 2020
| Day | Reports | States | Top type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Aug 2020 | 14 | 12 | Severe Weather |
| 27 Aug 2020 | 14 | 11 | Severe Weather |
| 10 Aug 2020 | 8 | 5 | Severe Weather |
| 12 Apr 2020 | 6 | 8 | Severe Weather |
| 13 Apr 2020 | 6 | 9 | Severe Weather |
| 18 Aug 2020 | 6 | 4 | Severe Weather |
| 15 Nov 2020 | 6 | 11 | Severe Weather |
| 11 Jan 2020 | 5 | 8 | Severe Weather |
What 2020 reports were about
| Cause | Reports | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Severe weather and natural disasters | 166 | 43% |
| Equipment failures and system operations | 113 | 30% |
| Physical attacks, vandalism and suspicious activity | 94 | 25% |
| Fuel supply problems | 7 | 2% |
| Cyber events | 3 | 1% |
Years next to 2020
Sources
DOE OE-417 files hold 383 reports for 2020; snapshot 9 Dec 2024, method.
Questions
How many OE-417 reports were filed in 2020?
383 reports in the DOE file began in 2020, against 278 in 2019.
Which day of 2020 had the most outage reports?
4 Aug 2020, with 14 reports. The next busiest was 27 Aug 2020 (14).
What was the biggest outage report of 2020?
1,400,000 customers, in a report that began 18 Aug 2020 (Nevada).