US power grid was physically attacked 107 times in the first eight months of 2022 

The US power grid was physically attacked 107 times in the first eight months of 2022, more than in any other year in the last decade.

The damage, caused mainly by gunfire, triggered power outages affecting tens of thousands of Americans.

Now, security experts are warning that the likelihood of a more significant attack is higher than ever - one that could see domestic terrorists cause a blackout spanning weeks and affecting entire swathes of the country.

The US power grid was physically attacked 107 times in the first eight months of 2022, more than in any other year in the last decade. Security experts warned that the likelihood of a more significant attack is higher than ever

Duke Energy workers inspect what they said was one of three bullet holes that crippled an electrical substation after the Moore County Sheriff said vandalism caused a power outage 

'If you have a physical attack that damages equipment, it can take weeks, months or years to replace that equipment,' says Michael Mabee, a former U.S. Army command sergeant major and an expert in power infrastructure vulnerabilities, told Newseek. 

'If enough of these transformers were destroyed in a physical attack, we would have a long-term, wide-scale blackout, and the deaths would be in the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions,' he added.

Although for many of these attacks those responsible have not been identified. However, Newsweek identified manifestos and manuals produced by radical groups throughout the county detailing how such acts of sabotage can be coordinated.

An intelligence memo issued in October by the California State Threat Assessment Center detailed dozens of examples of domestic radical plots. Many were associated with far-right and neo-Nazi groups that see the county's vulnerable power grid as a means to cause chaos.

More than a decade ago the vulnerability of the grid was noted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which indicated that damage to nine substations and a domestic transformer manufacturer could cripple the entire US power grid for 18 months.

A bullet hole at one of the Moore County substations that crippled the power being delivered to nearly 50,000 people 

Many of the attacks to power infrastructure have been linked to domestic extremists

On December 3, attacks on two substations in Moore County, North Carolina, left nearly 50,000 without power some for days. But that may just have been a small warning of what could be.

'I was very, very concerned - extremely concerned - in 2013,' Jon Wellinghoff, head of FERC at the time, told Newsweek. 'And I would say, after Moore County, that I'm still extremely concerned.'

He warned that there still exists 'some limited number of critical nodes within the US grid that could have severe consequences' if damaged. 'The threat is real,' he told the publication. 'Americans should be concerned.'

Emily Rainey, a former Army Captain,  told police the damage was caused by God, who was 'chastising Moore County' because a drag show was being hosted nearby at the time

In days after the Moore County attacks authorities were investigating former Army Captain Emily Grace Rainey, who led a group during the January 6 riots and is also director of the group Moore County Citizens for Freedom.

After a post on Facebook indicating she knew something about the attack, Rainey told police she was implying the damage was caused by God, who was 'chastising Moore County' because a drag show was being hosted nearby at the time.

Just a few weeks later in December, on Christmas morning, around 14,000 were left without energy after a variety of attacks in four different cities in Pierce County, Washington.

Matthew Greenwood, 32, and Jeremy Crahan, 40, were arrested and charged with conspiracy to damage energy facilities and possession of an unregistered firearm. 

Jeremy Crahan, 40, was one of the two men arrested and charged for attacking Washington state power substations on Christmas

Workers make repairs after an act of vandalism left thousands across southern Oklahoma without power in March

In March, a shooting attack on an electrical substation in Oklahoma (above) temporarily disrupted power for more than 1,000 customers

In the months before that, more than six substations were vandalized in both Washington and Oregon, including an unsuccessful attack in the early hours of Thanksgiving day. 

Earlier in the year in February, three white supremacists were arrested for planning to attack power grids in an attempt to stoke racial division. Their ploy involved fentanyl-filled suicide necklaces and assault rifles.

In March there was a shooting at a Red River Valley Rural Electric Association site in southern Oklahoma, that left 1,200 of people without power and resulted in a major oil leak. A transformer, which usually costs between $800,000 and $1 million, had to be replaced.

In July shots were fired at a transmission site in Wasco, California, causing power outages and hundreds of gallons of hazardous chemicals  to leak onto nearby soil. 

That same month a transformer serving the Keystone pipeline near Huron, South Dakota, was vandalized, reducing the oil artery's rate of operations. Few details have been released about that incident, with officials saying only that the transformer was 'vandalized' in a 'deliberate act'. The FBI is investigating.

On November 11 a substation near Maysville, North Carolina, went offline after it was damaged in an incident of vandalism, according to the Carteret-Craven Electric Cooperative, which operates it. Over 12,000 members of the Carteret-Craven co-op lost power for approximately two hours.

Mohammad Mesmarian, 34, was arrested for allegedly ramming his Toyota Camry in a generator pit and setting it on fire to damage the Invenergy solar plant in Las Vegas 

Mesmarian (above) was arrested 30 miles from the scene of the crime. Police said he told them he attacked the plant 'for the future'

In the beginning of January a man was charged with terrorism after police said he rammed his car into a Las Vegas solar plant and set it on fire.  

Police responded to a call about a trespasser at the Invenergy solar plant north of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and when the officers arrived, they found a car ablaze in a generator pit.

Las Vegas Metro police alleged that Mohammad Mesmarian, 34, had snuck into the plant and set his Toyota Camry on fire as he sat and watched the blaze. He reportedly told police that he had burned the car at a Tesla plant and that he did it 'for the future.' 

Creating a more resilient grid is also made difficult by legal limitations. 'The regulations for physical security and in cybersecurity are not written by any federal regulators,' Wellinghoff added.

'They are instead written by the utilities themselves, and those regulators only can adopt or reject them.'