Have you ever heard of the Swiss Cheese Model? It was first proposed in 1991 by psychology professor James Reason, and the gist of it boils down to this: most, although not all, accidents or failures in complex systems happen because of lack of or collapse in system resiliency across four separate levels.
Or, if you were to stack four pieces of Swiss Cheese one after the other, the fail point often happens when and where the holes line up. Patching those up through training protocols, process reviews, structural redundancies and more can help mitigate potential fail points.
That last one is what Alcoa Electric and Sevier County Electric officials are aiming for with a a new interlocal transmission tie-in that they believe will help stabilize the grid for for residents in the Townsend, Wears Valley and Heritage communities…