America's outdated power infrastructure

Timon Singh

Catastrophic oil spills, foreign energy dependency and rolling black-outs. To say that America's energy and power infrastructure needs a drastic overhaul is an understatement. For years, the North American electrical grid was widely considered to be one the greatest technological achievements of the 20th century, but now this once magnificent grid is antiquated, out-of-date and incapable of meeting America's 21st century energy demands and everyone knows it.

Last year though, it appeared there was hope when President Obama announced an $8 billion grant to make the US electrical grid into a 'smart grid' - a phrase that has been bandied around as the 'buzz word' for modern day US infrastructure.

The cost of up-grading the US electrical grid has been a major concern for many, not just because of the costs, which we'll get to later, but the sheer various logistics that need to be taken into account.

Firstly, the system will need to be able to accommodate more renewable and intermittent sources of energy, and thus the goal is to build a grid that is smart enough to store and transmit more variable sources of energy, for the times when the sun doesn't shine or the wind doesn't blow.

This method of integrating renewables into a smart grid is just one of the smart gird's potential problems, especially with increased funding and support form renewable energy. It is hoped that by combining high-speed broadband internet with the electrical grid, utilities and providers will be able to send information to buildings and vise-verse, thus allowing buildings to control the amounts of energy the use making the entire system way more efficient.

This of course means developing smart appliances that can communicate with the grid, which in turn means developing the technology that can support these demanding smartgrid applications.

Which brings us to cost.

How much will it cost?

Estimates for the electrical grid over-haul have fluctuated over the years, with totals ranging from $100 billion to $2 trillion. Pacific Gas & Electric alone has already spent $2.2 billion installing 4.6 million smart meters, and the supporting infrastructure in California.

People are worried because it's often the case that when so much money is spent on one government policy, another misses out. There have also been whispers of smart meters running "too fast". In Texas consumers have complained that their electricity bills have actually increased since seeing the installation of smart meter, with some reported to have doubled, or even tripled in cost.

However, it is still a matter of concern for many, and some communities have taken their own unique measures. In Texas, the town of Presidio even constructed their own massive battery to save the community losing power during blackouts.

It is not just an efficiency issue however, America's power infrastructure as it stands currently costs the US economy $150 billion every year. To not upgrade America's grid could cost more than not doing anything.

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