Well, since we spoke about wind farms yesterday, it’s appropriate that we consider what is going on with our electric grid system.

You know, the connecting wires that are not protected against hackers or terrorists who want to take down the US.  The connecting wires that fail to deliver power every time a strong storm is in the area.  And, our electric grid is certainly not designed to handle the gigawatts of alternative energy that we plan to install across our wonderful lands.

As if that weren’t terrible news, it’s actually worse.  Much worse.

What is that?  Climate change.  You see climate change is posing challenges to our electrical grid system that we have never addressed.  It’s why the average power loss per American is up to eight hours a year- twice as high in 2020 as it was just in 2015.  And, that doesn’t include the Texas disaster (millions of homes dark, 200 dead) or Hurricane Ida (14 deaths, weeks without power) in the tallies.

What is needed?  Storage, renewable energy sources, microgrids, and burying power lines underground.

But, state regulators won’t require them- since they fear the price of power will escalate.  And, many refuse to accept the fact that climate change is forcing the issue.  (Obviously, they don’t consider the costs for folks stuck without power for days on end.)

Let us not forget that in the US, regulated utilities are guaranteed a profit on their capital investments.  (The rates of return vary from state to state.)  And, that has led some power companies to claim they are spending money on capital investments to deal with climate change- even if that isn’t the cause.  (It can get them project approval- and greater profits- if they so claim.)

In Alexandria (VA), I have been pushing for the burying of power lines.  When I lived on Timber Branch Parkway (you can already hear the trees falling, felling power lines, can’t you?), we lost power for days on end every single year.  Plus, more numerous hours-long outages.

And, yes, burying the power lines is expensive.  Currently, the local power company gets 9.2% on its investment (and is lobbying to jump that to 10.8%). But, when a power line is felled, the power company gets 100% of the costs back immediately, since that is an “operational” cost.  (You see- there’s no financial incentive to bury the power lines, since that’s a 10 year pay back versus a 1 year return on the cost to replace a felled line.)

Microgrids- small systems that provide power to a neighborhood (medical center, university)- and are integrated for the whole region also cost money. But, it means that the neighborhood continues to have power even when those contiguous systems are down.  (Power is supplied from storage or backup power generators on site.)  These “resilience outposts” can let residents still have heat or cooling, operating refrigerators and ovens, as well as internet access.

About the only state that considers climate change as part of its utility planning is New York.  (That’s a result of the damage Hurricane Sandy wrought upon the state.)    As such, the regulators are pushing the utilities to develop (and install) solutions.

It’s time every state start such planning.

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