A filmmaker based in Dallas is releasing a documentary that looks at long term challenges facing the power grid and potential solutions. Grid Down, Power Up will be released on YouTube and Amazon this fall.
"It's about the vulnerability of our power grid and how reliant we are, as Americans, for the power grid to stay up," says David Tice. "If the grid goes down for an extended period of time, hundreds of millions of Americans would die."
Tice created and directed the documentary which was narrated by Dennis Quaid. The film shows the potential impact of the entire American grid failing for nine months.
"Sometimes we're made complacent by some of these short-term outages because there's always a guy with a yellow hat who shows up and turns the grid back on. Within two days, the electricity comes back," he says. "What happens if it's nationwide? What happens if it's for nine months? Suddenly, your refrigerator isn't going to work. Your domestic water system isn't going to work."
The Department of State Health Services says 246 people died in the winter storm that led to blackouts in Texas in February 2021. Tice says his film looks at the possibility 250,000,000 people could die in nine months after a national failure that could follow a natural disaster or terror attack.
"Our critical civilian infrastructure is not really protected from dire threats," he says.
After a hurricane, wildfire or other natural disaster now, other states and utilities often send additional manpower to repair infrastructure in the affected area. Tice says if the grid fails all over the country, volunteers and members of states' National Guards would stay home to deal with their own issues.
Tice says Hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans in August 2005 can serve as an example.
"We ended up having people from Houston, Tulsa and Dallas who came in, provided food and rescued people," he says. "What happens if it's nationwide?"
Tice says Grid Down, Power Up looks at the potential for violence and civil unrest, but he hopes to send a hopeful message. He says the film looks at how technology could be used to protect the grid and options to create micro-grids.
"It is scary, and we take the viewers through a range of emotions, but at the end of the film, we try to build up some patriotism and hope," he says. "America has had its back up against the wall before, and we have overcome obstacles. We ended up converting our industrial economy to an arsenal of democracy. We built a national highway system to change the way the U.S. conducts commerce. We ended up overcoming racial segregation with our civil rights movement."
Tice says he hopes people who see the movie will contact their lawmakers and utilities to urge them to invest in grid reliability.
Grid Down, Power Up will be available on YouTube and Amazon in the next few weeks. Members of SalemNOW can watch the film here. More information is available here.
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