Why the Grid Failed
The Industrial Physicist Magazine has an
interesting essay describing the large-scale physics of the power grid and asserting that the "derugulation" of the electric power industry was in fact not deregulation but merely a differently-structured regulation; and that this new regulation, by forcibly, politically severing generation from transmission and by severly regulating transmission property -- in other words, by not respecting the property rights of the grid owners -- clashes with the physics of the power grid and blocks the ability of transmission companies to provide stable service, thereby causing the recent Eastern US power failure.