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"NEW YORK (AP) -- The cost of weather-related power outages is high and rising as storms grow more severe and the U.S. electric grid gets older, according to an Obama Administration report that calls for increased spending on the nation's electric power system.
Power outages cost the economy $18 billion to $33 billion per year, according to the report, a figure that has been rising steadily over the past 20 years. That can rise to $40 billion to $75 billion in years with severe storms such as 2008's Hurricane Ike and last year's Superstorm Sandy.
The White House report, released Monday, said spending to make the grid stronger and more flexible will save the economy "billions of dollars and reduce the hardship experienced by millions of Americans when extreme weather strikes."
The administration proposes spending on training and preparation, stronger equipment such as concrete poles, and more advanced sensing and diagnostic equipment that can predict failures, prevent them from getting worse, and restore power faster after it has gone out.
.....
"The White House report says increased spending in recent years has still not matched the level of investment between 1960 and 1990. It suggests new spending should be focused on a few main areas, including, "hardening" the system by installing stronger equipment, building more transmission wires and energy storage systems to make the grid better able to absorb shocks, and installing more sophisticated technology.
The report does not suggest how much new spending was needed, where that spending would come from, or how much money would be saved by preventing some outages and making others less severe.
Major upgrades to the grid can be difficult to initiate. Utilities do not build or install new equipment without first getting approval from state or federal regulators to charge customers. Regulators can be reluctant to increase customer rates, especially if it means spending on relatively novel high-tech equipment, or to guard against weather that may or may not arrive.
Massoud Amin, an electrical engineering professor at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, who has long advocated increased spending on better grid technology, says the benefit to improving the grid far outweighs the cost of investment. He estimates that a modern, efficient grid would cost $21 billion per year for 20 years. He calculates savings resulting from a better grid would amount to $79 billion to $94 billion per year."
"NEW YORK (AP) -- The cost of weather-related power outages is high and rising as storms grow more severe and the U.S. electric grid gets older, according to an Obama Administration report that calls for increased spending on the nation's electric power system.
Power outages cost the economy $18 billion to $33 billion per year, according to the report, a figure that has been rising steadily over the past 20 years. That can rise to $40 billion to $75 billion in years with severe storms such as 2008's Hurricane Ike and last year's Superstorm Sandy.
The White House report, released Monday, said spending to make the grid stronger and more flexible will save the economy "billions of dollars and reduce the hardship experienced by millions of Americans when extreme weather strikes."
The administration proposes spending on training and preparation, stronger equipment such as concrete poles, and more advanced sensing and diagnostic equipment that can predict failures, prevent them from getting worse, and restore power faster after it has gone out.
.....
"The White House report says increased spending in recent years has still not matched the level of investment between 1960 and 1990. It suggests new spending should be focused on a few main areas, including, "hardening" the system by installing stronger equipment, building more transmission wires and energy storage systems to make the grid better able to absorb shocks, and installing more sophisticated technology.
The report does not suggest how much new spending was needed, where that spending would come from, or how much money would be saved by preventing some outages and making others less severe.
Major upgrades to the grid can be difficult to initiate. Utilities do not build or install new equipment without first getting approval from state or federal regulators to charge customers. Regulators can be reluctant to increase customer rates, especially if it means spending on relatively novel high-tech equipment, or to guard against weather that may or may not arrive.
Massoud Amin, an electrical engineering professor at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, who has long advocated increased spending on better grid technology, says the benefit to improving the grid far outweighs the cost of investment. He estimates that a modern, efficient grid would cost $21 billion per year for 20 years. He calculates savings resulting from a better grid would amount to $79 billion to $94 billion per year."