b'4American Journal of Transportation ajot.comPower gridlockThe challengeVulnerability of the grid and of rebuilding the US power grid climate changeThe U.S. power grid is millions of miles long, contains count- By Matt Miller, AJOTless pieces of equipment, serves nearly 230 million people and is magnificently deficient in upkeep. Analysts are engaged inAs wildfires rage throughout theThefireshighlightthedangers multitrillion-dollar debate whether the grid needs rebuildingWesternUnitedStates,theydestroyof climate change. They also under-or replacement. And every day, new power sources are comingeverythingintheirpathandimperilscorethevulnerabilityofpower online that need to be incorporated into the gridmany ofallintheirrangelife,property,grids to natural disasters and weather themrenewableslikewindandsolar,neverenvisionedashealth, natural habitat. Add light andextremes, both of which will increase becomingademocratizedfeatureofthepowergrid.Butpower to that list. in scope and frequency because of our now one thing is a certain, the power grid needs attention andFlamesknockedouttransmis- warming planet. it will be costly, the largest project and likely most expensivesionlinesandgeneratorsfromtheClimatehazardsandextreme project in U.S. history. Sierra Nevada to the San Diego back- weather affect all components of the country,TheLosAngelesTimeselectricgridsystem,fromgenera-reportedinSeptember,addingthattion to end use, the Oak Ridge study By Matt Miller, AJOTutilities begged residents to conservewarned,addingthatthesesystems, electricity during the hottest times ofdecadesold,werentdesignedto FixingAmericaspowergridisIn2017,theAmericanSocietyday because of stresses on the system.handle new environmental realities.a monumentally difficult and expen- of Civil Engineers released a reportAn Oak Ridge National Labora- Bigger and more frequent wild-sivetask.Threeyearsback,Joshuacard on US infrastructure, in whichtory study last year detailed the devas- fires,hurricanes,blizzards,floods Rhodes,aresearcheratUniversityit slammed the state of the countrystation, obvious and not, that wildfiresand drought all call for more renew-ofTexas,AustinsWebberEnergypowergrid.Electricitydeliverycan unleash on the grid: destruction ofableenergy,butmoredistributed Group,estimatedacompletegridin the US depends on an aging andpower lines, towers and poles. Thepower as well. These natural disasters replacementwouldcostnearly$5complex patchwork system of powertransmissioncapacityofalinecanimpose the need for another type of trillion. Im sure it would be moregenerationfacilities,transmissionbe affected by the heat, smoke, andflexibility,andthatisflexibilityin now, Rhodes recently said. and distribution grids, local distribu- particulate matter from a fire even ifthe grid to make it more resilient, tion lines, and substations, the reportthere is no actual damage to the physi- saidFlorianMayr,aBerlin-based (GRIDLOCKcontinued on page 6) cal structure, it emphasized.(GRIDcontinued on page 13) Joshua Rhodes, University of Texas,Austins Webber Energy GroupThegridiscomprisedofthree parts:generation,transmissionand distribution.Transmissionanddis-tributionlines,manyofwhichhave passedtheirlifeexpectancy,are already operating at capacity. Trans-formers are failing. Hundreds of the aged and uneconomic plants that gen-erate power must be replaced. Add to this an overall deficiency inthegridsmaintenance.Thats becomeespeciallyapparentinpar-ticularpockets.However,theentire country suffers. There is a need to investandcreateinfrastructurejust to keep [the US grid] up and keep it going, said Florian Mayr, a Berlin-basedpartneratApricumThe Cleantech Advisory.Florian Mayr, a Berlin-based partner at ApricumThe Cleantech AdvisoryComplicating matters, the US has three separate gridsEastern, West-ern and Texasthat arent even con-nected. Rick Rys, a senior consultant who specializes in energy management with ARC Advisory Group, calls this ridiculous for a modern country.'