US energy infrastructure gets C- in engineering study, major investment needed

New York — US energy infrastructure received a C- from the American Society of Civil Engineers in their latest report card, which cited extreme weather as a growing risk to transmission and distribution infrastructure, while multi-billion dollar investments are needed to maintain and expand these power delivery pathways.

Released every four years, the 2021 Report Card for America's Infrastructure gave the US an overall C- grade and found the "country is spending just over half of what is required to support the backbone of the economy," according to a March 3 statement.

Overall, the long-term infrastructure investment gap has continued to increase, with the gap having risen from $2.1 trillion over 10 years in the last report to $2.59 trillion in the latest study, meaning a funding gap of $259 billion per year, the statement said.

"This not a report card anyone would be proud to take home," Thomas Smith, ASCE executive director, said.

"We have not made significant enough investments to maintain infrastructure that in some cases was built more than 50 years ago," Smith said.

If the US does not pay its overdue infrastructure bill, ASCE said by 2039 the US economy will lose $10 trillion in growth, and exports will decline by $2.4 trillion.

Transmission, distribution needs

Of the 638 transmission outage events reported from 2014 to 2018, severe weather was cited as the predominant cause.

There were 22 weather and climate disasters in the US that cost at least $1 billion in 2020, the most in history, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the statement said.

And the scorecard report was completed before the disastrous power and natural gas system failures in Texas in mid-February caused by an extended cold snap that left millions without power for days.

The distribution system accounts for 92% of all electric service interruptions, which is a result of aging infrastructure, severe weather events, and vandalism, the report said.

For example, wind gusts above 70 mph damaged power lines across New England and New York on March 2, leaving more than 130,000 customers without power, the AP reported March 3.

The US electric grid, including generation, transmission, and distribution faces an investment gap and to meet the latest state-driven Renewable Portfolio Standards in generation infrastructure, the gap is projected to grow to a cumulative $197 billion by 2029, the ASCE said.

However, transmission spending in the US increased from $15.6 billion in 2012 to $21.9 billion in 2017. And spending on electricity distribution systems by major US electric utilities — representing about 70% of the total US electric load — has risen 54% over the past two decades, from $31 billion to $51 billion annually, the report said.

"Preserving the nation's energy infrastructure requires balancing the affordability and access to delivered energy products (e.g., electricity and natural gas) with maintaining reliable and resilient service as well as reducing the carbon footprint," according to the scorecard report.

The engineers offered several recommendations that could raise the US energy infrastructure grade. Chief among them is adopting a federal energy policy that provides "clear direction" for meeting current and future energy demand that considers technology change, carbon dioxide emissions reduction, renewables and distributed energy generation, "state and market-based factors," and rate affordability.

Additional recommendations include developing a "national hardening plan" that considers investment in generation and delivery via transmission, distribution, and gas pipelines to "enable rapid restoration of energy systems after natural and/or manmade disasters."

Interestingly, another recommendation would consolidate federal, state, and local environmental reviews and permitting processes so new transmission, distribution, and pipelines "can be funded, create jobs earlier, and modernize energy infrastructure faster" — while fully vetting environmental and community impacts.

Since ASCE began issuing its Report Card in 1998, the grades have largely remained in the D's.

And while the 2021 report showed that for the first time in 20 years the country's infrastructure overall is out of the D range, 11 categories still remain at that level, "a clear signal that our overdue bill on infrastructure is a long way from being paid off," the report said.