Cooperative Living July 2021 - 18

CloserLook | by Paul Wesslund, Contributing Writer
America's
Understanding the New Electric Grid
Keeping up with change to keep the lights on
electric grid consists
of 160,000 miles
of high-voltage
lines.
Changing weather patterns
call for new ways to make sure
the lights stay on.
The electric grid is constantly adapting
to changing weather, cybersecurity
threats and other factors.
alk about a big machine: America's electric grid
consists of 160,000 miles of high-voltage
transmission lines, millions of miles of low-voltage
lines, 7,300 power plants, nearly 200,000 electric utility
employees, and thousands of substations and transformers.
All these parts must work together to keep power
flowing safely. In addition, the complex network must
adapt to weather patterns, cybersecurity threats, consumer
expectations and decentralized power sources like rooftop
solar panels.
" The silver lining is that technology is available to help
address that, " says Venkat Banunarayanan, vice president
of Integrated Grid Business & Technology Strategies at the
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
Here's how the grid is accommodating new realities
1. Resilience in the face of more severe weather
Last year was the busiest recorded hurricane season
along the Atlantic Coast. Wildfires are increasingly intense,
especially in the West, and ice storms and cold weather
surprised the South this winter. Those changes call for
new ways to keep the lights on.
Electric utilities are increasing grid resilience by
integrating weather forecasting with smart technologies
to analyze possible responses.
" An electric co-op can pre-position work crews so
they can quickly respond to the outage, and they can
redirect the flow of electricity to take an alternate route
to minimize the duration of a power outage, "
Banunarayanan says,
2. Strengthening cyber safety
Cybersecurity measures have become standard
operating procedure for utilities to protect against cyber
attacks. Electric co-ops and other utilities work closely
16 | Cooperative Living | July 2021
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All the components of the electric
grid must work together to keep
power flowing smoothly.
with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to monitor
and strengthen defenses.
Electric co-ops also urge consumer-members at home to
protect themselves from hackers. When devices like printers
and smart TVs connect to the internet, that makes them part
of the electric grid.
3. More power to co-op members
Many utilities have voluntary programs that manage
electric loads by turning off water heaters or air conditioners
for short periods of time. Those programs add another layer
of coordination.
Additionally, homeowners are installing solar panels
on their roofs or in their backyards, with some even selling
excess electricity back to the utility over the electric grid.
4. Utilities keeping up with the change
Large fields of wind turbine farms and solar power arrays
require building transmission lines to new locations and
planning for a kind of power that might only operate when
the sun shines or the wind blows. These changes are necessary
and helpful, but they are also expensive.
Annual spending on the U.S. transmission system
increased from $9 billion a year in 2002 to $40 billion in
2019. But that spending is paying off.
In 2017, Americans experienced about eight hours of
power interruptions, according to the Energy Information
Administration. By 2019, that was down to five hours.
" Power outages have been going down because there's
investments being made to increase the robustness of the
grid, " says Banunarayanan. " I expect the reliability of the
grid to increase. " 
Paul Wesslund writes on consumer and cooperative affairs
for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
co-opliving.com
http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living July 2021

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