The problem posed by the OP's link are about either naturally or artificially created high-energy electromagnetic pulses. Under normal circumstances, generators and the grid can protect themselves and 'unhook' before they become destabilized in terms of generation vs. load (assuming they work as advertised - AKA the northeast blackout of '03). Generators such as hydro, fossil fuel, wind and solar can power down quite quickly; with nuclear it is a process. The switching, transforming and protection equipment is often costly and not usually available off the shelf. A small, nefarious, EMP would unlikely cause widespread difficultly; however, a large-scale one like a solar storm or nuclear device would likely cause widespread and long term disruption because, as the link says, they're not designed to shunt virtually instantaneous large induced current spikes to ground. A local operator could possibly power a local area independent of a function grid, but most of their switching equipment is designed to 'power up' to grid voltages. Large population centres would be well and truly screwed. How well we managed it would vary, be clearly the economy would be seriously disrupted.