Major weather events are the main reason. 2020 is the most active Atlantic hurricane season on record, with five hurricanes causing repeated blows to the Louisiana power grid. Tropical Storm Isaias caused power outages for approximately 750,000 users in Connecticut, another state that suffered power outages for much longer than the national average. In addition to the cyclone, in October 2020, an ice storm disrupted power to 300,000 users in Oklahoma. A thunderstorm in Iowa-the most expensive thunderstorm in American history-severely damaged a nuclear power plant and forced it to retire early.
Without these extreme events, power outages caused by minor faults would have remained roughly at the level of about two hours per year since 2013.
Although 2021 is not over yet, in terms of power outages, the situation this year has been very bad. In August and September, due to the impact of Hurricane Ida, about 1.2 million users in eight states were out of power. In a sudden cold snap in Texas in February, more than 4.5 million users also lost power. Because the residents are notair conditioner, Heating or life-saving medical equipment to deal with extreme weather lost their lives.
In order to maintain lighting in a warming world, America’s aging power grid-most of which was built in the mid-20th century-needs a serious overhaul. The bipartisan infrastructure bill just passed by Congress includes $65 billion to repair the power grid – including large investments in new transmission lines to pull renewable energy from remote wind farms and solar farms to households across the country. . These lines also need to be reinforced to withstand storms and fires that are exacerbated by climate change. For example, when Hurricane Ida swept across Louisiana, it destroyed all eight transmission lines that brought electricity to New Orleans – leaving residents to spend more than a week in the dark.
If the $1.75 trillion budget coordination bill can pass the final round of congressional debates, more funds may soon flow to the transformation of the US energy system.
Renewable energy—especially the combination of solar panels with batteries and microgrids—may make the grid more resilient in the event of a disaster. For example, home solar systems and even electric cars can intervene to provide backup power in the event of a power outage. Microgrid is a solution that cities such as New Orleans have already studied.
It is reported that across the United States, President Biden has a goal to achieve 100% clean energy power sector by 2035. Achieving this goal and larger emission targets will prevent dangerous weather events from becoming more extreme.