Power Outage Annual Report. Blackout Tracker. Canada Annual Report 2014

Transcription

1 Power Outage Annual Report Blackout Tracker Canada Annual Report 2014 Switch N to Eaton.

2 Table of contents A Canadian welcome... 2 Introduction... 3 Downtime isn t for the faint of heart... 3 Five most significant reported outages... 4 Five most unusual reported outages... 4 Provinces and territories ranked by number of reported outages... 4 Eaton s Blackout Tracker: your burning questions answered... 5 Price tag deemed to be $1.6M for data centre outage... 5 Smart meters reduce restoration time, spark debate... 6 High cost, complexity impeding preferred backup for SMBs... 7 What you can do to protect your business... 7 Overview of national power outage data... 8 Outage summary... 9 Reported power outages by cause... 9 Reported power outages by region... 9 Power outage data by province Introduction Alberta British Columbia Manitoba New Brunswick Northwest Territories Nova Scotia Ontario Prince Edward Island Quebec Saskatchewan Annual Report

3 A Canadian welcome Thank you for your interest in the Eaton Blackout Tracker Annual Report for I am confident that you will discover that the information in this report substantiates the growing concerns over power outages across Canada, which disrupt IT operations, damage equipment and cause data losses. Productivity and monetary loss to an organization can be extensive and far-reaching regardless of the size of the operation, while extensive recovery time further escalates the already high costs associated with a power outage. Yet with proper planning, you can avoid these potentially devastating consequences. Numerous white papers and other valuable resources are available on the Eaton website, and I encourage you to download these for future reference. They can be a solid partner for helping you develop a strategy to prepare for power outages that could affect your organization. We at Eaton are pleased to offer this report and trust that you will find it insightful and useful in helping to protect your business and IT investments against power outages in the future. Your comments and feedback are always appreciated and encouraged. Sincerely, Umesh Patel Managing Director, Canada Eaton Power Quality Company UmeshPatel@eaton.com Ph: Annual Report

4 Introduction Welcome to Eaton s Blackout Tracker Annual Report for From massive power cuts left in the wake of severe storms to smaller, local disruptions that affected residents of a single neighborhood, power outages caused problems for nearly 2 million people and businesses across Canada the past year. This annual report is based on reported power outages in all the provinces and territories. Sources for the data included: news services, newspapers, websites (including those of newspapers, TV stations, etc.) and personal accounts. In all, 257 reported outages were tabulated and used as the basis for the report representing a nearly 88 percent increase from the 137 reported on in This further compares to 106 in 2012, 177 in 2011, 194 in 2010, 142 in 2009 and 128 in (The 2008 data collection began on April 6, so 2008 results are not for a complete year). We at Eaton hope that you not only find the report interesting, but that it prompts you to take appropriate action to prepare for power outages that could affect you and your business. It is important to note that an unknown number of power outages go unreported each year. The large power outages that impact tens of thousands or even millions of people are well reported, but not all events make headlines. Yet while many power outages last only a few seconds or minutes, they are long enough to significantly disrupt IT operations, damage equipment and cause data loss. The main body of the report follows this introduction and is organized into two sections: 1. Overview of national power outage data 2. Power outage data by province Downtime isn t for the faint of heart With the ability to cause irreparable damage and irretrievable loss of revenue in a matter of minutes, downtime is, in a word, disastrous. Electrical power outages, surges and spikes are estimated to cost billions in annual damages to the economy. The price tag varies not only by industry, but by the scale of business operations. For a medium-size business, the exact hourly cost may be lower, yet the impact on the business can be proportionally much larger. Nailing down the cost of each hour of downtime varies widely on a number of factors, such as the nature of the business, the size of the company, and the criticality of its IT systems related to revenue generating processes. For instance, a global financial services organization may lose millions of dollars for every hour of downtime, whereas a small firm might lose only a margin of productivity. According to Dunn & Bradstreet, 59 percent of Fortune 500 companies experience a minimum of 1.6 hours of downtime per week. Assuming an average staff of 10,000 employees who are paid an average of $56 per hour (including benefits), the downtime loss in labor alone for a Fortune 500 firm would ring up at $896,000 per week or more than $46 million annually. Electrical power outages, surges and spikes are estimated to ring up more than $150 billion in annual damages to the U.S. economy, a figure we can reasonably assume applies to Canada, as well. Despite the enormous price tag attached to downtime, there s still good news: by investing in power backup solutions to protect critical systems, you can significantly slash the risks and consequences. Annual Report

5 Canada s 5 most significant reported outages 1. Mysterious malfunction, August 5 Montreal Island, QB: Hydro-Quebec wasn t sure what caused their distribution network to go awry, causing a massive power outage that left 193,000 customers in the dark. 2. In the line of fire, Jan. 4 St. John s, NL: Some 190,000 customers were left powerless after a transformer fire caused a massive outage. 3. A bad trip, Dec. 4 Montreal, QB: A huge blackout occurred when protective devices were tripped on two major transmission lines coming from James Bay, leaving 188,000 without electricity for two hours. 4. Taken by storm, July 5 Maritimes, NS: Post-tropical storm Arthur was no longer a hurricane when it made landfall, but it was still powerful enough to knock out power to 130,000 with winds of more than 100 km/h. 5. Faulty switchgear, Oct. 22 Vancouver, BC: Branches and other debris were blamed for electricity being cut to 67,000 customers across the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island. Canada s 5 most unusual reported outages 1. Nesting instinct, August 7, St. John s, NL: A nest-building osprey was blamed for an outage after debris fell from the nest onto power lines, knocking out power to 2,000 customers for 45 minutes. 2. Biting off more than it could chew, March 13 New West, BC: A rodent that chewed through a power wire resulting in a blast of heat not only sparked an outage but also a fire on the pole. 3. All aboard, Nov. 8 Abbotsford, BC: A train that slammed into a car subsequently knocked down several hydro poles, cutting power to several thousand customers in the city's east and downtown. 4. Keep on trucking, Nov. 4 Moncton, NB: A widespread outage was caused by a contractor's dump truck getting too close to a transmission line in Caledonia Industrial Park and shorting it out. Traffic was snarled across the region over the lunch hour and many stores were forced to close temporarily. 5. Building blunder, Oct. 27 Mississauga, ON: A construction crane veered off course, hit live wires and knocked out power to 500 customers. Provinces and territories ranked by number of reported outages Ontario 86 1.Ontario Ontario 36 2.British Columbia 54 2.British Columbia British Columbia Manitoba Alberta Manitoba 17 4.Nova Scotia 20 4.Nova Scotia Nova Scotia Alberta Quebec Alberta 9 6. Saskatoon Manitoba Saskatoon 7 7. Quebec Saskatoon 5 7. Newfoundland 3 7. Newfoundland New Brunswick 3 8. Quebec 2 8. New Brunswick Newfoundland 1 9. Prince Edward Island 2 9. Prince Edward Island 5 8. Prince Edward Island New Brunswick Yukon 2 Northwest Territories 2 Annual Report

6 Eaton s Blackout Tracker: Your burning questions answered! Ever wonder exactly how Eaton is able to acquire the hoards of data that encompass the Blackout Tracker Annual Report? Do we employ stealth outage statisticians to roam the 50 states, lying in wait for the lights to go out? Scour utility reports hunting for inconsistencies? Here, we answer some of your most burning questions about the Blackout Tracker! Q: How do we populate the tracker with so much outage information? A: The vast majority of outages are picked up through media reports, ranging from local newspapers to TV stations to private institution publications. We monitor a variety of Google Alerts on a daily basis then enter the results into a database that feeds the tracker. Q: Do we capture every single outage? A: Absolutely! Ok, well, maybe not every single one. We catch the major ones but unfortunately, not every outage is reported, so we undoubtedly miss a few. For example, many outages that occur within private buildings and institutions are never published, making them difficult for us to track. Perhaps we will consider deploying those stealth statisticians after all. Q: What is the purpose of the tracker? A: Our goal is to bring attention to the often unpredictable causes and timing of power outages. It is our hope that the data we compile will help drive awareness and ultimately, inspire citizens, businesses and organizations alike to take preventive measures to protect against costly and potentially devastating power failures. Knowledge is power. Q: Who is responsible for compiling all of the data? A: We could tell you, but then we d have to well, you know. Q: Do we make outage data available to the public? Sure. If your idea of a good time is to sift through the shadowy details of people who were left in the dark, we are more than happy to provide it in Microsoft Excel format. Please requests to powerquality@eaton.com. Price tag deemed to be $1.6M for data centre outage A 'perfect storm' of failures was blamed for sparking a governmental data centre outage that resulted in $1.6 million worth of losses in equipment and productivity, according to a report from Ernst & Young. The failure of the Marysville Data Centre in June occurred when the data centre s back up power systems failed to protect the government s IT centre, which houses programs for departments like health, justice, finance, public safety and government services. That caused various program outages in multiple departments. The report on the incident called out numerous breakdowns that contributed to the outage, including the fact that managers were alerted to the age and condition of critical backup power equipment, and the risks that posed, before the failure. In addition, the report criticized the Internal Services Agency the province s IT agency for not understanding the criticality of the systems hosted in the data centre or the system recovery priorities during an event of this nature. Furthermore, the report repeatedly pointed to the absence of a disaster recovery plan, as well as an overall major incident management process within the Internal Services Agency. Annual Report

7 Noting that old equipment and a lack of redundancies posed failure risks, the assessment specifically pointed out that [The] facility was supported with a single UPS (no back-up) that was over 22 years old and approaching EOL [end of life]; notifications of this situation and its risks were made to management in advance of the incident. While noting that the outage caused some serious issues for departments whose IT programs were housed at the data centre, no specifics were detailed. Ernst and Young estimated that $1.1 million was spent on recovery after the outage and $500,000 was attributed to lost productivity after the critical government computer systems crashed. Going forward, it was recommended that the government develop an IT disaster management plan, address the lack of redundancy for critical systems and equipment, and assess and potentially replace older equipment. In addition, the report called for the creation of a data centre facilities strategy, with a goal of "improving IT services performance and reliability and reducing long-term costs for data centre services." Smart meters reduce restoration time, spark debate New smart meters installed throughout Hydro-Québec s territory were praised for shortening the duration of widespread power failures that struck the province at the end of 2014, according to the utility company. Spokesman Serge Abergel said that the 2.5 million new-generation meters installed over the past couple of years helped the utility pinpoint precisely where the outages occurred, resulting in teams being able to more efficiently concentrate restoration efforts. Abergel could not specify exactly how much faster Hydro-Québec was able to re-establish power using the intelligent meters, which relay information via radio frequency to Hydro-Québec s central command post and to each other. Since February 2013, Abergel said about 99.5 per cent of the Hydro-Québec customers who have had new meters put into their homes accepted smart meters through the conversion program, which runs until the end of On Oct. 3, the Régie de l énergie lowered the fee to opt out of next generation meters for Hydro- Québec s 3.8 million customers, giving customers who already had a next-gen meter installed a 90-day grace period to instead deploy a new non-communicating not smart meter at the reduced installation cost of $15. After Jan. 5, those customers would be subject to the regular $85 fee. But the remaining 1.3 million customers who have yet to have the new meters installed can still opt out for $15 within 30 days after receiving Hydro s notice that a new meter will be installed. After that period, the regular $85 installation fee will apply should they decide to request a noncommunicating meter. However, not everyone is charged up about the conversion program. Magog Mayor Vicki May Hamm has tried to ban the meters from the entire municipality, which is served by its own utility, as well as Hydro-Québec and another company. Hamm told the Montreal Gazette that she fears the meters potential health risks, as well as the control it gives Hydro-Québec. Hydro-Québec s meters emit intermittent radio signals that last several thousandths of one second and do not pose any health risk, according to Abergel, who added that the system s health hazards were deemed negligible by Health Canada, the World Health Organization and other impartial sources. Annual Report

8 High cost, complexity impeding preferred backup for SMBs While small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) recognize that off-site data management, backup and disaster recovery are imperative, new research from analyst IDC found that the cost and complexity of the cloud is hindering the ability for these firms to achieve the most desired solution. A cross-industry survey of businesses with less than 1,000 employees found that the SMBs in France, Germany, Russia, the UK, Japan, Korea, Singapore and the U.S. are compelled to use off-site backup and disaster recovery, but lack the skills and experience to manage the process cost effectively. Yet considering that nearly 80 percent of companies assessed the average cost of downtime to be at least $20,000 per hour, the findings suggests there is a huge demand for managed services and hosting among SMBs. While the use of data centers among the group is increasing, there is a widespread recognition that a service provider could run the operations more efficiently, according to the survey. What you can do to protect your business The most important thing you can do to protect your business is to develop a power protection plan. If you don t know where to start, contact an Eaton distributor that specializes in power protection and get the expert advice needed. From small uninterruptible power systems (UPS) like the Eaton 5S UPS to models for large data centers like the Power Xpert 9395 UPS, Eaton resellers can offer the appropriate battery backup products. Eaton sales partners also offer standby and portable generators as well as surge protection devices. Eaton 5S UPS Annual Report

9 Overview of national power outage data This section provides aggregate data for Canada and includes all the data found in the subsequent province section. Outage summary Total number of people affected by outages (This is the sum of the number of people affected by reported power outages in Canada starting January 1, 2013.) Total duration of outages (This is the sum of the durations of the reported power outages.) Total number of outages (The sum of the number of reported power outages.) Average number of people affected per outage (This number is determined by dividing the Total number of people affected by outages by the number of outages that reported the number of people affected. Not all reports of outages included number of people affected. The number of outages used for this calculation can be found in the note following this table.) Average duration of outage 1,909,364 18,927 minutes (more than 13 days) 257 7, minutes (This number is determined by dividing the Total duration of outages by the number of outages that reported durations. Not all reports of outages included the duration. The number of outages used for this calculation can be found in the note following this table.) Notes: a. Total number of people affected (and average) based on 155 (60%) of the total reported outages. Total duration of outages (and average) based on 52 (20%) of the total reported outages. b. Reports from news services, newspapers, websites, etc. that are used as sources sometimes give statistics using different terms. For example, some reports may be based on people while others may be based on addresses, homes and businesses or utility customers. For purposes of this report all of these are assumed to be, and are counted, as people. Annual Report

10 Reported power outages by cause Note: Each power outage was grouped into one of seven possible causes. The outages by cause were totaled. The number adjacent to the pie piece represents the percentage of outages attributable to that cause. Reported power outages by region Regions: East: Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island West: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, Yukon Central: Ontario, Quebec Annual Report

11 Power outage data by province Introduction This section of the report provides an analysis of the power outages by province. There are four parts to each analysis. 1. The first part is an outage summary. The results are computed in the same manner as those in the outage summary found in the overview of national power outage data in the previous section of this report. Only data pertaining to the particular province is used. 2. The second part of the analysis on each province is the outage fact. This is simply an interesting fact concerning a particular outage (or outages) in a province. 3. The third part of the analysis is a chart of the reported power outages by cause, which is the same type of chart that can be found in the overview of national power outage data. Only data pertaining to the particular province is used. 4. The last part of each provincial section is the number of reported power outages by month, which is the same type of chart that can be found in the overview of national power outage data. Only data pertaining to the particular province is used. From this chart it may be possible to determine particular times of the year when power outages are more common. 5. Data collection began April 6, Note: Only two outages each were tallied for Yukon and Northwest Territories in As a result, individual outage information was not broken down for these territories. Annual Report

12 Alberta Outage summary Total number of people affected by outages 38,379 Total duration of outages 770 minutes (nearly 13 hours) Total number of outages 19 Average number of people affected per outage 2,132 Average duration of outage 43 minutes Note: Total number of people affected (and average) based on 8 (42%) of the total reported outages. Total duration of outages (and average) based on 3 (16%) of the total reported outages. Outage fact: On Jan. 1, some 9,000 customers in Calgary rang in part of New Year s Day in the dark after a weather-related problem at a substation caused a power outage lasting more than two hours. Reported power outages by cause Reported power outages by month Annual Report

13 British Columbia Outage summary Total number of people affected by outages 200,705 Total duration of outages 3,220 minutes (2.2 days) Total number of outages 54 Average number of people affected per outage 3,717 Average duration of outage 61 minutes Note: Total number of people affected (and average) based on 31 (57%) of the total reported outages. Total duration of outages (and average) based on 13 (24%) of the total reported outages. Outage fact: On July 21, an outage shut down Metro Vancouver's TransLink system, leaving the company scrambling for almost five hours to evacuate passengers from trains and get the system up and running again. Reported power outages by cause Reported power outages by month Annual Report

14 Manitoba Outage summary Total number of people affected by outages 37,279 Total duration of outages 780 minutes (13 hours) Total number of outages 21 Average number of people affected per outage 1,775 Average duration of outage 39 minutes Note: Total number of people affected (and average) based on 15 (71%) of the total reported outages. Total duration of outages (and average) based on 4 (19%) of the total reported outages. Outage fact: On Sept. 16, a squirrel entered a Portage la Prairie substation and caused an arc, knocking out power to 1,500 for 2 ½ hours. Crews had to cut power to a third distribution line in order to enter the station and repair the damage. Reported power outages by cause Reported power outages by month Annual Report

15 New Brunswick Outage summary Total number of people affected by outages 202,725 Total duration of outages Unknown/not reported Total number of outages 11 Average number of people affected per outage 18,430 Average duration of outage Unknown/not reported Note: Total number of people affected (and average) based on 9 (82%) of the total reported outages. Total duration of outages (and average) based on 0 (0%) of the total reported outages. Outage fact: On Nov. 8, wet snow and high winds took out electricity for 8,000 customers. NB Power said the snow and gusty conditions were obstacles to restoring power. Reported power outages by cause Reported power outages by month Annual Report

16 Nova Scotia Outage summary Total number of people affected by outages 254,676 Total duration of outages 60 minutes Total number of outages 20 Average number of people affected per outage 12,734 Average duration of outage 4 minutes Note: Total number of people affected (and average) based on 17 (85%) of the total reported outages. Total duration of outages (and average) based on 1 (5%) of the total reported outages. Outage fact: On May 20, wildlife interference was blamed for an outage that zapped electricity to 1,200 customers. An unidentified animal reportedly came into contact with some utility equipment. Reported power outages by cause Reported power outages by month Annual Report

17 Ontario Outage summary Total number of people affected by outages 515,877 Total duration of outages 12,147 minutes (nearly 8 1/2 days) Total number of outages 86 Average number of people affected per outage 5,999 Average duration of outage 143 minutes (nearly 2 1/2 hours) Note: Total number of people affected (and average) based on 59 (69%) of the total reported outages. Total duration of outages (and average) based on 17 (20%) of the total reported outages. Outage fact: On May 26, a raccoon was blamed for a blackout that left 3,600 Fort Frances residents in the dark for 45 minutes. The ringed-tail bandit entered a substation, climbed one of the towers, and made contact with a 115,000-volt line. Reported power outages by cause Reported power outages by month Annual Report

18 Prince Edward Island Outage summary Total number of people affected by outages 7,000 Total duration of outages 90 minutes Total number of outages 5 Average number of people affected per outage 1,400 Average duration of outage 18 minutes Note: Total number of people affected (and average) based on 1 (20%) of the total reported outages. Total duration of outages (and average) based on 1 (20%) of the total reported outages. Outage fact: On March 31, heavy snow caused outages on Lennox Island, prompting the community to set up an emergency warming shelter in a school gymnasium. Reported power outages by cause Reported power outages by month Annual Report

19 Quebec Outage summary Total number of people affected by outages 453,723 Total duration of outages 29o minutes (nearly 5 hours) Total number of outages 12 Average number of people affected per outage 41,248 Average duration of outage 32 minutes Note: Total number of people affected (and average) based on 10 (83%) of the total reported outages. Total duration of outages (and average) based on 3 (25%) of the total reported outages. Outage fact: On Oct. 31, a fire in a Riviere des Prairies industrial building cut power to 2,000 in the area. The fire erupted after an employee manipulated a vehicle battery with a cloth that contained traces of a chemical that reacted with chemicals in the battery. Reported power outages by cause Reported power outages by month Annual Report

20 Saskatchewan Outage summary Total number of people affected by outages 4,500 Total duration of outages 800 minutes (more than 13 hours) Total number of outages 13 Average number of people affected per outage 375 Average duration of outage 67 minutes Note: Total number of people affected (and average) based on 2 (15%) of the total reported outages. Total duration of outages (and average) based on 4 (30%) of the total reported outages. Outage fact: On Sept.10, a car ran into a power pole, sparking a brief outage at Saskatoon s John G. Diefenbaker International Airport. Flights were unaffected during the 65-minute outage. Reported power outages by cause Reported power outages by month Annual Report

21 Eaton Power Quality Company Head Office 380 Carlingview Drive Toronto Ontario M9W 5X9 Toll free: Regional Office - Eastern Canada Lachine, Quebec Regional Office - Western Canada Calgary, Alberta Eaton All Rights Reserved Printed in USA MZ153018EN February 2015 Eaton is a registered trademark. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.