Introducing a Novel Cascading Failure Network ©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/WOT ERS Nipping Blackouts in the Bud By Hyde M. Merrill, Md Abid Hossain, and Marc Bodson C CASCADING BLACKOUTS ARE THE OLDEST MAJOR unsolved technical problem in power system engineering, highly visible since the Northeast Blackout of 1965 in North America. In this article, we review some cascading blackouts and past work on the problem. New metrics measure network stress to identify and reduce the risk of cascading failures. Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2020.2986085 Date of current version: 17 June 2020 64 ieee power & energy magazine Excellent models of large power systems are used worldwide to simulate the hardware that generates and transmits current. However, the systems also include control and protection equipment as well as practices and procedures. We argue that these critical ancillaries are too complex to be observed or modeled at a large scale. They must be designed and operated with care, but we cannot expect perfection. In the cascading problem, one failure leads to a chain of others in an essentially undamaged bulk power system, 1540-7977/20©2020IEEE july/august 2020http://www.ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/WOTERS