{"id":15384,"date":"2021-03-08T13:54:44","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T18:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/?p=15384"},"modified":"2026-08-10T14:11:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T18:11:48","slug":"extreme-weather-power-grid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/2021\/03\/extreme-weather-power-grid\/","title":{"rendered":"Lights Out: Extreme Weather Threatens America’s Aging Power Grid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

As hurricanes, flooding and other extreme weather events become more frequent and intense across the United States, the nation’s power grid is increasingly vulnerable to damage, potentially leaving millions of people without heat and other essentials in life-threatening conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe grid is kind of old, and weather is arguably getting more extreme, so it’s becoming more vulnerable to weather impacts of different types because of that,\u201d said Jordan Kern, an assistant professor in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at North Carolina State University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of the U.S. power grid’s infrastructure was built during the post-World War II economic boom of the 1950s and 1960s. It was designed to last 40 to 50 years, but it wasn’t done under the expectation that the environment would be so volatile due to climate change, meaning large portions of the grid are operating well past their intended retirement age in unprecedented conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extreme weather events can have a wide range of effects on the grid’s infrastructure, according to Kern. High winds can snap wooden poles used for distribution lines. Flooding can damage electrical equipment on the ground. Drought can reduce water supplies for hydroelectric dams. Intense heat can overwhelm transmission line capacity and decrease the efficiency of power plants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe technologies that make up the electrical grid, whether they\u2019re renewable or nonrenewable, are all vulnerable to extreme weather in their own way,\u201d Kern said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 2003 and 2012, extreme weather events caused 147 million power outages<\/a> in homes and businesses across the U.S. These outages, which mostly resulted from damages to transmission lines, substations and lower level distribution lines, are estimated to have cost the economy an annual average of at least $18 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Utility companies are upgrading and replacing aging infrastructure in order to strengthen their respective electrical systems \u2014 known as \u201cgrid modernization.\u201d In fact, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the combined total spent on U.S. electricity delivery infrastructure \u2014 specifically high-voltage transmission and distribution \u2014 exceeded $1 trillion over the past two decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to upgrading and replacing infrastructure across the grid, utilities are also implementing \u201chardening\u201d measures to protect electrical equipment against storm damage, including burying transmission and distribution lines underground to guard against wind and ice damage and elevating or relocating electrical equipment to protect it from flooding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kern said utilities should also focus on adopting renewable energy technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines and hydropower. While these technologies are susceptible to fluctuations in supply caused by extreme weather events, they play an important role in reducing the long-term damage and costs linked to global warming through their ability to offset greenhouse gas emissions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Increasingly, there are more tools we can use to manage variability in wind and solar on the grid,\u201d Kern said. \u201cThose include battery storage, greater coordination across systems, the use of forecasts and even customers changing when they use electricity”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critics of grid modernization argue against it because it can cost billions of dollars and take years to complete. But it’s worth it, Kern said. \u201cThere\u2019s always going to be costs associated with preparation, and consumers are responsible for paying those costs. People usually don\u2019t want to pay more for electricity, but they also hate living without it during an outage. If we want a more resilient grid, we need to accept that it\u2019s going to be expensive\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kern added that while customers should be willing to pay for grid modernization, it\u2019s vital that utilities and regulatory agencies work to ensure that marginalized, underprivileged communities aren\u2019t disproportionately impacted by rate increases. \u201cUtilities really shouldn\u2019t ask people who already struggle to pay their electric bills to pay more.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n\n

As hurricanes, flooding and other extreme weather events become more frequent and intense across the United States, the nation's power grid is increasingly vulnerable to damage, potentially leaving millions of people without heat and other essentials in life-threatening conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe grid is kind of old, and weather is arguably getting more extreme, so it's becoming more vulnerable to weather impacts of different types because of that,\u201d said Jordan Kern, an assistant professor in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at North Carolina State University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of the U.S. power grid's infrastructure was built during the post-World War II economic boom of the 1950s and 1960s. It was designed to last 40 to 50 years, but it wasn't done under the expectation that the environment would be so volatile due to climate change, meaning large portions of the grid are operating well past their intended retirement age in unprecedented conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extreme weather events can have a wide range of effects on the grid's infrastructure, according to Kern. High winds can snap wooden poles used for distribution lines. Flooding can damage electrical equipment on the ground. Drought can reduce water supplies for hydroelectric dams. Intense heat can overwhelm transmission line capacity and decrease the efficiency of power plants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe technologies that make up the electrical grid, whether they\u2019re renewable or nonrenewable, are all vulnerable to extreme weather in their own way,\u201d Kern said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 2003 and 2012, extreme weather events caused 147 million power outages<\/a> in homes and businesses across the U.S. These outages, which mostly resulted from damages to transmission lines, substations and lower level distribution lines, are estimated to have cost the economy an annual average of at least $18 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Utility companies are upgrading and replacing aging infrastructure in order to strengthen their respective electrical systems \u2014 known as \u201cgrid modernization.\u201d In fact, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the combined total spent on U.S. electricity delivery infrastructure \u2014 specifically high-voltage transmission and distribution \u2014 exceeded $1 trillion over the past two decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to upgrading and replacing infrastructure across the grid, utilities are also implementing \u201chardening\u201d measures to protect electrical equipment against storm damage, including burying transmission and distribution lines underground to guard against wind and ice damage and elevating or relocating electrical equipment to protect it from flooding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kern said utilities should also focus on adopting renewable energy technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines and hydropower. While these technologies are susceptible to fluctuations in supply caused by extreme weather events, they play an important role in reducing the long-term damage and costs linked to global warming through their ability to offset greenhouse gas emissions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Increasingly, there are more tools we can use to manage variability in wind and solar on the grid,\u201d Kern said. \u201cThose include battery storage, greater coordination across systems, the use of forecasts and even customers changing when they use electricity\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critics of grid modernization argue against it because it can cost billions of dollars and take years to complete. But it's worth it, Kern said. \u201cThere\u2019s always going to be costs associated with preparation, and consumers are responsible for paying those costs. People usually don\u2019t want to pay more for electricity, but they also hate living without it during an outage. If we want a more resilient grid, we need to accept that it\u2019s going to be expensive\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kern added that while customers should be willing to pay for grid modernization, it\u2019s vital that utilities and regulatory agencies work to ensure that marginalized, underprivileged communities aren\u2019t disproportionately impacted by rate increases. \u201cUtilities really shouldn\u2019t ask people who already struggle to pay their electric bills to pay more.\u201d <\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

America’s aging power grid is increasingly vulnerable to damage as extreme weather events become more frequent and intense, according to a North Carolina State University professor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":171,"featured_media":15391,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"caption\":\"\",\"displayCategoryID\":460,\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[111,1,102,3,460],"tags":[105,461,261,362],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[],"class_list":["post-15384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fer-research","category-hidden-news","category-hidden-newswire","category-research-innovation","category-thought-leadership","tag-climate-change","tag-environmental-science-and-technology","tag-fer-research","tag-forestry-and-environmental-resources"],"displayCategory":{"term_id":460,"name":"Thought Leadership","slug":"thought-leadership","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":460,"taxonomy":"category","description":"Our more than 200 faculty members are experts in their fields, conducting cutting-edge research to solve urgent challenges at the intersection of the environment, economy and society. Here you will find content highlighting their expertise on a broad spectrum of interdisciplinary issues ranging from the significant rise in forest fires, deforestation and flooding to the need for accelerated innovation to sustainably engineer bio-based materials.","parent":0,"count":88,"filter":"raw"},"acf":{"ncst_posts_meta_modified_date":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15384"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43193,"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15384\/revisions\/43193"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15384"},{"taxonomy":"_ncst_magazine_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnr.ncsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_ncst_magazine_issue?post=15384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}