Over the next several months, I will lay out a search for patent documents related to the "great power outage of 2003" that may explain the current "state-of-the-art" and whether the operators and owners of the electrical grid appear to be aware of or are implementing these "state-of-the-art" systems. Note that Congress refers to "state-of-the-art" technology that has been proven and is commercially available as "best available technology" in the various laws and regulations they enact and promulgate, such as the environmental laws, "Clean Water Act" and the "Clean Air Act".
This type of search can be referred to as a "state-of-the-art" search, essentially the same as a patentability search combined with a general technology search. The essential features of a high voltage transmission system such as the one that apparently failed in Ohio in the region under control of First Energy Company. The terminology used in this industry can be obtained from patent documents, technical dictionaries, web sites of industry groups or providers/suppliers, newspaper and journal articles, etc.
Class 218 shown in bold above is a good starting point for this type of search. The class schedule and definitions for Class 218 provides a good initial source for technical terms. Also, my experience as a summer intern at the Switchgear and Large Rotating Apparatus division of Westinghouse located in East Pittsburgh, in the 1970s and my work as a Performance and Chemical Engineer at Ohio Edison Company (the precursor to First Energy, coincidentally) helps me add a few useful terms: switchgear, substation, dispatch.
Switchgear are very large switches that connect high voltage transmissions lines. Any disconnection from the high voltage (e.g., 345kv) transmission lines occur at these switches. The class 218 definitions lack an overall description of the class and lacks a vocabulary. However, subclass 1 include class 200 as a related class.
Since a blackout is a result of a disconnect in high voltage power transmission, the combination of a switch and a transmission/interconnection system appears relevant to obtain technical teachings.
A classification search combining classes 200, 218 and 307 [ccl/200/$ and ccl/218/$ and ccl/307/$ for entire database on-line conducted 11242003] gives 49 hits, a very manageable number.
GAU (Group Art Unit) 2832 examines in classes 200, 218, 335, 336, and 338, and currently has 13 examiners (including SPE, primary and junior examiners). GAU 2836 examines in classes 307 and 361 and has 12 examiners. Note that phone exchanges with 308 were assigned to examiners in the early 1990s and indicate veteran examiners, likely primary examiners. Newer examiners were given 306 or 305 exchanges.
The first patent in the above search results has as an assignee, Siemens Aktiengesellschaft. Now that we have a general idea where relevant patents may be found, we can look more closely at details of the causes for the "great northeastern blackout".
The First Energy Corp web site has a link called "August 14, 2003 Blackout Information" on its opening page. The linked page lists links to six papers. The first is a white paper prepared by EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute) published November 20, 2003.