Grid Security Vulnerabilities

Metcalf sniper attack, Moore County substation attack, shooting cooling systems, need for cold spares and rapid domestic production

The electrical grid is precariously vulnerable to physical attacks on bespoke transmission transformers, which can plunge entire regions into a "Stone Age" scenario by crippling essential water and sewage infrastructure. While some argue for strategic stockpiling of "cold spares" and standardized domestic production to ensure rapid recovery, others question whether a destroyed grid should even be rebuilt in its current, centralized form. Personal preparedness through off-grid solar and emergency supplies offers a temporary buffer, but commenters highlight that these individual measures rarely account for the cascading long-term failures of critical public systems. Ultimately, the conversation underscores a tension between reactive disaster recovery and the need for a fundamentally more resilient domestic energy architecture.

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> This would be a great opportunity for the government to get involved

They have been:

https://www.energy.gov/oe/transformer-resilience-and-advance...

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Depends if we intend to reboot after a major geomagnetic event or a war that destroys electrical infrastructure.

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Sure.

I mean: I've got some MREs in the pantry along with some other shelf-stable food, and I've got some water stored (primarily to fill empty space in the chest freezer for various practical reasons, but it exists). I keep some basic first aid and survival stuff in the car (bandages, space blankets, stuff to catch fish with, stuff to cook with). I've got my camping gear, including a small off-grid solar power system, stored in organized totes that can be loaded up very quickly. And I try to keep a minimum of a couple hundred miles worth of fuel in the gas tank at all times.

I do these things just in case. The bulkiest items see frequent use. None of this cost me very much to buy, or to maintain. And none of these things can replace the lifestyle I've come to expect, but they might be able to buy me some time.

Can we afford to have a spare copy of the hard-to-produce parts of the electrical grid sitting in a warehouse?

Would we even want to rebuild the grid in the same shape if the shit really hit the fan and we had to start it over from scratch?

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Possibly the easiest way to bring any metropolitan area or region into the Stone Age for unknowable amounts of time is simply to destroy large, bespoke transmission (rather than distribution) transformers. Crazy people shooting out the cooling systems have done this several times.

Meaningful grid security means these items need rapid, standardized, domestic production capacity and cold spares distributed offsite and ready to be deployed should anything happen to ones in use. These are critical items that must not be neglected to reactive actions disaster recovery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalf_sniper_attack

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore_County_substation_attack

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_grid_security_in_th...

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Also the sewer system backs up after about a week because the pumping and lift stations need power to operate.

The water system shuts down because the tanks aren't reserve supply they're pressure support.

And solar plus storage will keep you running for maybe a week if you're conservative and mostly don't use anything...which doesn't help you if it's months till replacement.

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solar + storage + water sheath fireplace can run pretty much till you run out of wood.

But yes, unless you spend serious money (own sewer, water from underground etc), it's basically solution for "the power pole is down", not any grid wide problems.

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