by James Ingelson, USA
Book review
93
Blackout
A Novel
A s y o u p r o b a b l y h av e
observed, the best fiction is drawn
at least in part from the author’s
personal experience. Alexander
Solzhenitsyn said “Literature
t r ansmit s incont rover t ible
condensed experience . . . from
generation to generation. In this
way literature becomes the living
memory of a nation.”
George C. Loehr has been in
power systems engineering since
starting with Consolidated Edison
Company in 1962. He was the
Executive Director of the Northeast
Power Coordinating Council from
1989 until 1997, and is active now
as consultant, writer, and teacher.
This, his first novel, is entirely
a work of fiction; however we can
assume that there is much about
interconnected electric system
operation, organization, and
regulation which comes from the
author’s extensive experience.
In one of the plot lines, a
distributed protection system
has been installed in the West
Side of New York City. A utility
employee attempts to tamper
with this protection system,
remotely. PAC World readers will
recognize that the presentations of
this protection system, and other
technical situations in this novel, are
reasonable and technically feasible.
The technical level of presentation
is not deep, and is suitable for
the general public. Interpersonal
situations and characters are also
believable and also must have been
drawn to some degree from the
author’s experience. Without giving
away too much of the plot, we will
mention
some other
elements of the story.
Organized cr ime element s
are involved in sabotage of
a transmission tower, and a
confrontation takes place in a power
system control room with an armed
and mentally unstable employee.
Transfer limits are manipulated so as
to allow a dangerous loading level.
A blackout occurs and there are
portrayals of the personal effects.
There is even a love relationship
which develops in the midst of all
of these challenges. Most of the
action takes place in New York
City, and there are interesting
background details of several city
neighborhoods.
There are entities represented
in this novel which are somewhat
similar to US entities such as
FERC, NERC, and a northeastern
RTO. All these entities are
somewhat changed in name and
constitution, and the author says
in his preface that representation
of the ac t ual org ani zat ion
structure would be too complex
for this novel. These fictional
organization entities do exhibit
some very realistic characteristics.
A main theme in this novel is the
difficulty of maintaining high
reliability standards in the current
‘deregulated’ environment. To
paraphrase, policy makers have
attempted to “fix” the industry
by making adjustments in market
rules, while ignoring evidence that
deregulation itself is the problem.
Please do not skip the preface.
There is a lot of action, hopefully
more action in a short period of
time than any of us will ever have
to deal with! This was a thoroughly
enjoyable book from cover to cover!
This book is dedicated to the
memory of Lewis E. Burnett who
may have been known to some
PAC World readers in his long-time
position with the New York Power
Authority.
It may be possible to purchase a
hardcopy of the novel from one of
the usual on-line sources. At the
time we checked, one used copy
was available. To order a copy from
the publisher, you may go to the
author’s personal website at: www.
eLucem.com and follow the “Lulu”
link.
If you prefer, go directly to www.
lulu.com, but be aware that there are
several books available on lulu with
this same title. Once at lulu, the
book can be purchased in paperback
for shipment, or as an immediate file
download of about 1700 kB.
Blackout by George C. Loehr
Edition: 1st 2007
Format: Paperback, 512pp, or file download, 1700 kB.
Publisher: Lulu.com, Pub. Date: August 2007
ISBN: 978-1-4357-4272-7
PAC.SUMMER.2009