Weather a growing threat to nation's power grid, Energy report says

Severe weather is the leading cause of power disruptions, costing the nation's economy $18 billion to $33 billion a year, and climate change will only make it worse, a White House review on energy infrastructure concludes.

The report, released Tuesday by the Energy Department, recommends investments in the electric grid to protect it from the severe storms that may be occurring more frequently because of global warming, as well as from physical and cyberattacks.

Vice President Joe Biden and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz released the report at Peco Energy Co. in Philadelphia. Biden noted that more electricity is being generated from solar and wind, which are challenges to the grid. Renewable energy resources often are in rural areas where power is needed least, requiring lines to bring it to consumers.

“How and where we're producing energy is changing, and our energy infrastructure has to keep up,” Biden said.

Moniz said Monday that “modernizing the electricity grid is critical,” particularly given the threats presented by extreme weather.

The review recommends spending about $15.2 billion over a decade to improve the grid, upgrade the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and make energy infrastructure more resilient to the effects of climate change. Some of that money is in the proposed 2016 federal budget.

The Energy Department is planning a meeting with top executives from 17 energy companies, including Consolidated Edison Inc. in New York, Pepco Holdings Inc. of Washington and Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy Inc., on April 30 to discuss how to improve energy infrastructure resilience for extreme weather and climate change, which was described as “the most important environmental factor affecting” the electric grid.