Good advice from the editors at the CSM, following India’s massive power disruption that left half the population without electricity:
Former Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson says the US is ”œa superpower with a third-world grid.”
It’s a top-down, complex system vulnerable to bad weather, cyberattacks, solar flares, and human mistakes. And the US will need to spend about $75 billion a year to upgrade it for future electricity needs, according to a 2011 report from the American Society of Civil Engineers. Otherwise, the report states, a ”œcombination of aging equipment and capacity bottlenecks” will lead to ”œa greater incidence of electricity interruptions.”
And a new report called ”œPowering America’s Energy Resilience” from the Center for National Policy finds: ”œDisruptive risks to the critical foundations of US national power and prosperity are likely to grow in frequency and intensity in the 21st Century.” The report suggests that the US rethink the role of infrastructure in supporting daily life.
India’s blackouts point to the need for a new kind of resiliency in power supplies, one that relies on local, self-contained energy producers tied together by microgrids. Many US cities are trying this approach, especially with ”œgreen” energy such as solar. Much like the ”œlocal economy” and ”œlocal food” movements, perhaps nations can also move toward ”œlocal energy” as a way to ensure reliability.
Amen. Smartgrids make economic sense as well as being greener. I’m rather proud to say Scotland is a world leader in this. Maybe places like Texas, where the sun shines every day but the power infrastructure is helf together by boogers and string, could take tips from across the pond.
That said, I’m not clear what the problem is in India. It could be a lot of things, including an antiquated grid.
But the comparison between a developing country that wants to show itself off to the world and continues to avoid investing in its infrastructure and people and a country that considers itself a giant astride the earth and continues to avoid investing in its infrastructure and people has suggested itself to me through this blackout.
I’ll stick with local rather than smart when it comes to grids. I do not trust the pipedream of smart grids; hell, i don’t even trust the digital meter installed on my house that can record which appliances are running and will eventually be able to shut them off.
…and i live on a local grid. We are somewhat connected to the outside world, but my electricity is generated in a small steam plant owned collectively by the citizens. We have reliable power, quick response when things go wrong, and i pay $0.07/kwh.
And while i’m all for being green, i guess i know enough about generation and transmission to know that the nationwides smart grid is the last thing a country in terminal decline should be spending its money on. Because A. we’ll fuck it up, B. it will come with heavy costs … given that losses will need to be socialized and profits privatized, and C. it will only mean giving even more power to the Democrats, Republicans, and ATC.
Of course, my guess is the EPA will shut down my little socialist generation plant, forcing us onto the grid of doom and my rates will triple or more.
One of the unnoticed things in America is the grid upgrade.
It’s far from perfect…hell, it ain’t even adequate as this summer’s blackout in the middle Atlantic states attests…but it’s a lot better than it used to be.