America


Aging Power Grid Is Increasingly Unreliable


The system is faltering just as Americans need it more than ever.


T BY KATHERINE BLUNT


he u.s. electrical system is becoming less dependable. The problem is likely to get worse before it gets better.


Large, sustained outages have


occurred with increasing frequency over the past two decades, according to data compiled by The Wall Street Journal. In 2000, there were fewer than two


dozen major disruptions. In 2020, the number surpassed 180. Utility customers on average expe-


rienced just over eight hours of power interruptions in 2020, more than double the amount in 2013, when the government began tracking outage lengths. The data doesn’t include 2021, but


those numbers are certain to follow the trend after a freak freeze in Texas, a major hurricane in New Orleans, wild-


20 NEWSMAX | MAY 2022


fi res in California, and a heat wave in the Pacifi c Northwest left millions in the dark for days. The U.S. power system is falter-


ing just as millions of Americans are becoming more dependent on it — not just to light their homes, but increas- ingly to work remotely, charge their phones and cars, and cook their food — as more modern conveniences become electrifi ed. At the same time, the grid is under-


going the largest transformation in its history.


Within the past decade, natural gas-


fi red plants began displacing pricier coal-fi red and nuclear generators as fracking unlocked cheap gas supplies. Since then, wind and solar tech-


nologies have become increasingly cost-competitive and now rival coal, nuclear, and, in some places, gas-fi red plants. The pace of change, hastened by


market forces and long-term eff orts to reduce carbon emissions, has raised concerns that power plants will retire more quickly than they can be


replaced, creating new strain on the grid at a time when other factors are converging to weaken it. Much of the transmission system,


which carries high-voltage electricity over long distances, was constructed just after World War II, with some lines built well before that. The distribution system, the net-


work of smaller wires that takes elec- tricity to homes and businesses, is also decades old and accounts for the majority of outages. Utilities are ramping up spending


on line maintenance and upgrades. Still, a report from the American Society of Civil Engineers anticipates that by 2029, the U.S. will face a gap of about $200 billion in funding to strengthen the grid and meet renew- able energy goals. Another factor is the changing cli-


mate. Historically unusual weather patterns are placing great stress on the electric system in many parts of the U.S., leading to outages. Unlike electric systems in Europe, distribution and transmission lines in


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