What are the most common causes

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Throughout human history, there have been hundreds of hydroelectric power plant accidents and dam failures that have caused varying degrees of damage to people, property, and the environment. In the United States alone, there were 173 dam failures and 587 incidents that would have likely resulted in dam failures without intervention between 2005 and 2013. As with other industries, many different causes of these failures can be identified. Some of these will be presented in the article below.
Based on the work of Marika Benerts and Thomas Bruckners, who studied and described the possible causes and consequences of several power supply system failures between 1965 and 2012 in approximately 250 cases, the following graph was compiled.
Reasons and their percentage
As the graph shows, 30% of power outages are caused by weather events. These include storms, strong winds, hurricanes or tornadoes, as well as ice formation. In Germany, heavy snowfall and ice formation caused the destruction of a power line and damage to transmission towers in 2005.
The other of the two most common causes of power outages, reported in 27% of cases, are electrical equipment failures, namely major defects found in transformer stations, gas turbines, power plants, switchgear or transmission lines. A gas power plant failure caused a power outage in Turkey in 2012.
Grid failures, including improperly set protective relays, poor plant condition, planned outages or inadequate maintenance, account for 12% of hydroelectric failures.
Temperature and force majeure are the cause of power outages in 8% of cases. Fog and cold temperatures caused grid problems that caused power plant outages in India in 2010. In Venezuela in 2008, forest fires in the immediate vicinity of a thailand telegram data hydroelectric power plant caused short circuits in transmission lines. In Chile, for example, an earthquake caused problems in 2010.
Less common causes of power outages include grid congestion and overload, sabotage, vandalism, or cyber attacks. Human error, such as a construction crane or helicopter colliding with a power line, as happened in Peru in 2006, when a hot air balloon struck a high-voltage pole, causing a short circuit and knocking out several lines.
Dam warning system
As the examples above show, many failures remain completely unpredictable and cannot be prepared for at all. However, an effective monitoring and warning system can reduce and prevent damage to property and the environment, and often save thousands of lives. It also provides power plant operators with time to carry out emergency response measures in the most dangerous situations.
Mass notification with electronic sirens is the most efficient and fastest way to deliver emergency messages regardless of power grid outages, mobile operators or weather conditions. Contact us for more information.